

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 










THE SECRET OF 
THE LIVE DOLLS 






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* 




The SECRET of the 
LIVE DOLLS 


BY 

JOSEPHINE SCRIBNER GATES 

AUTHOR OF 

THE STORY OF LIVE DOLLS, MORE ABOUT LIVE DOLLS, ETC. 


Illustrated by 

A. L. ARCHIBALD 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


ju - 3-/Y 3-7 


Copyright, 1924 

By The Bobbs-Merrill Company 


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Printed in the United Slates of America 


>< 6 


PRESS OF 

BRAUNWORTH & CO. 
BOOK MANUFACTURERS 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

SEP 15 *24 

©C1A800835 

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THE SECRET OF 
THE LIVE DOLLS 





THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 
CHAPTER I 

“What’s dat noise?” cried Dinah Doll, 
sitting straight up in bed. 

Her kinky hair also sat up, and her 
eyes rolled around like china marbles as 
she listened. 

By the dim light of the fire she could 
see the many little beds where the dolls 
lay just as Janie, the little doll mother, had 
placed them, before she went away on the 
big ship. 


i 













THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


Very tenderly she had tucked them in, 
and kissed them good-by. Before she closed 
the door she said: 

“I’ll soon be back again, and when I 
come I hope the Fairy Queen of the dolls 
will have been here and I will find you 
alive, dancing and singing a welcome-home 
song.” 

And now in the still night the magic 
wand must have been waved, for Janie had 
been gone only a few hours when, at a 
strange sound, Dinah sat up and listened. 

As she stared at the dolls, she saw they 
were nestling about as do baby birds at 
dawn; then up from their pillows popped 
the many little heads. 

“Hark!” cried Dinah, “d’u all hear 
som’fin’?” 

The dolls cocked their heads like so 
many robins, trying to hear they knew not 
what. 

“Oh,” cried Rosabel, in sleepy tones, 
“it’s only the fire snapping.” 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“No ’tain’t,” declared Dinah. “Don’ 
you t’ink I knows what fire snappin’ sound 
lak? Der it goes again.” 

Once more the dolls listened as they 
stared at the odd clock which stood on the 
mantel. This clock was the joy of every 
child’s heart, for it looked like a quaint 
little house, and had a door which clicked 
when it opened. It seemed to be a fairy’s 
home, for in it lived a wee man, wearing 
a gay red suit and cockade hat, which 
gleamed here and there with gold braid 
and shiny buttons. 

The children clapped their hands when 
it came time to strike the hour. Then he 
stood in the doorway with his silver trum¬ 
pet pressed close to his lips, and sent forth 
wondrous bugle notes. 

Now as the dolls listened, they heard 
the click of the clock door, and then saw 
the little red-coated man nodding his head 
as twelve sharp notes startled the quiet 
house. 


3 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


This seemed to be a signal, for at once 
the chime clock began its hymn of praise. 
Then the tall clock on the stair landing 
sent forth its deep ringing tones. 

As this sound died away, the gold clock 
in the parlor rang out its clear silvery call, 
as though saying: 

“I’m here, don’t forget me.” 

This was interrupted by the cuckoo. It 
joined in with the bell tones to show that 
it also was on guard. 

The silence that followed was filled with 
a rollicking chorus of laughter which 
echoed through the room, and Rosabel 
cried: 

“How funny it sounded! Just like a 
church choir singing a midnight carol. 
First the bugle called. Then the singing 
clock started the hymn, and they all joined 
in. The cuckoo was bound to have the 
last word. I never heard them at midnight 
before.” 

“Nor any ob de rest ob us,” cried 


4 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Dinah, her teeth chattering with cold and 
her eyes wide with wonder. 

“Now, listen,” she said, “I want you 
all to know som’fin’ queer is goin’ on. 
The Queen ain’t been heah yet to wave her 
wand, hab she? Answer me dat.” 

“No,” chorused the dolls. 

“Well, den, what you all do’n’ alive? 
Dat’s what I want to know. You all cain’t 
git alive ’thout dat Queen, and whar is she? 
Nobuddy ain’t seen her, is dey?” 

The dolls looked at one another, each 
shaking her head. 

“No,” said Rosabel, “but if we’re alive, 
we can’t help it, can we?” 

“No, we cain’t, I’m only askin’ you. Dat’s 
all I’m doin’. Now, tell me, didn’t any of 
you hear a queer noise like a bird floppin’ 
its wings and a hummin’ like a swarm o’ 
bees?” 

“Oh, Dinah, no; you dreamed it,” said 
Rosabel. 

“No, I didn’t dream it,” said Dinah. 


s 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“An’ I wish Janie hadn’t gone away on dat 
big ship. Anyhow, did you all know she 
lef’ me som’fin’ to ’member her by?” 

“No, what?” they all asked. 

“A tear-drop on ma cheek.” 

Dinah held her head very high and the 
dolls all popped out of bed crying: 

“Oh, let’s see it. Come over by the 
fire.” 

Dinah followed and stood very still in 
the center of the group while the dolls 
stared at the place where a tiny drop had 
glistened on the brown cheek. 

“It isn’t there. It’s all dried up,” said 
Rosabel. 

“Now, Dinah, don’t get us all to cry¬ 
ing. Janie’s coming back very soon you 
know and she will bring us all a pres¬ 
ent.” 

“Yes,” cried Dinah, tossing her kinky 
head, “and I know som’fin’ you don’t know. 
You all didn’t hear what I did. When they 
had the tea-party while Janie was standin’ 
6 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


me up against her chair, she was pretend¬ 
in’ I’se alive and was servin’ the tea. I 
heard Janie tell that new girl, the one from 
the East, she was cornin’ back with Sandy 
Claus. An’ then what do you think that 
new girl, she sade? She whispered it but 
I heard her all the same. She sade: ‘Oh, 
then, you’ll never come back ’cause where 
I come from, we’ve just found out dere 
ain’t no Sandy Claus. It’s a secret, but I 
thought I’d tell you as long as you’re goin’ 
away.’ Then she talked about it a lot. 
Janie looked so scared and so sad.” 

“No Santa Claus!” cried the dolls in 
horror. 

“How dreadful for her even to think of 
such a thing,” said Rosabel. 

“Dere’s dat noise ag’in,” cried Dinah. 

“Oh, come quickly,” said Rosabel, who 
was now peering out the window. 

The dolls flew to her side, and together 
they stared up at a wonderful sight. 

The air seemed full of flying birds 
7 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

dotted with twinkling lights, circling about 
above the trees. 

As they darted hither and thither, they 
sent forth a song such as no bird ever 
sang before. 

Suddenly they paused with outstretched 
wings, ready to take flight at any moment. 

The song ceased and all was still. In a 
moment they heard the well-remembered 
notes of the Queen’s bugle. Then the room 
rang with merry laughter, for before them 
stood their beloved Queen. With outstretched 
arms she stood as though longing to enfold 
them all. 

“Well,” cried Dinah, “here we all been 
alive since before the clock struck twelve an’ 
no one knew how it happened.” 

“I can tell you,” laughed the Queen. “I 
waved my wand just at that moment. I 
wanted you to have some fun in this empty 
house. I could just see you dancing about. 
I peeped in to see if the back log was still 
flaming. I found the caretaker had been 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


faithful. It was all just perfect for you to 
come to life. I was up in my flying- 
machine with my messengers.” 

“Now I know what I heard,” cried 
Dinah. “That bird song and those bees 



a-hummin’, you all said I dreamed it,” and 
she gazed scornfully at the group about the 
Queen. 

“What were you doing here in the fire¬ 
light?” asked the Queen. “Not watching 
for Santa Claus? It isn’t time for him 
yet.” 


9 






THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Oh!” they cried, creeping closer to their 
beloved one and all talking at once. 

“We’ve just heard such a dreadful thing 
about Santa Claus. They say there isn’t 
any!” 

“They say there isn’t any?” echoed the 
Queen in amazement. 

“Who’s ‘they’?” 

“Dinah knows all about it,” said Elsie 
Grace. 

“Dinah may tell it then,” said the Queen. 
“Come, let’s sit before the fire and hear this 
interesting fairy tale.” 

Much comforted with the Queen in their 
midst, the dolls seated themselves in the 
rosy glow of the firelight. 

Then Dinah told what she had heard. 
The Queen grew more and more grave as 
the story went on, and when it was finished 
she said: 

“And so because this new girl says there 
is no Santa Claus, do you believe it?” 

“I do not!” declared Rosabel stoutly. 

io 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Tell us, dear Queen,” asked Elsie 
Grace, “Do you believe there is a Santa 
Claus?” 

“I certainly do,” said the Queen. 

“But is you ever seed him?” asked Dinah. 

“No, but does that prove anything? No 
one ever saw the wind, but we know it blows. 
Let me ask you a question, Dinah. Do 
you think Janie loves you?” 

“I sut’nly do.” 

“Why?” asked the Queen. 

“’Cause when she said good-by, she lef’ 
a tear-drop on ma cheek. It’s dry now, but 
there is the very spot where it was.” 

Dinah crept close and pointed. 

“Well,” said the Queen, “a tear-drop is all 
you had to prove Janie loved you and now 
even that is gone. It seems very sad, if that 
tear-drop is the only way you know.” 

“No,” stammered Dinah. “ ’Tain’t all. I 
knows if. I feels if in ma bosom.” 

“Of course you do and you all believe I 
love you, don’t you?” 


ii 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Yes,” chorused the dolls. “We do, we 
do.” 

“Yet you never saw love. 

“Now, my dearies, we’ve come to life to 
have fun. Please look happy. Are we going 
to let an idea that has come flying into 
Cloverdale from the East bother us?” 

“Indeed not!” 

“Haven’t I always given you wonderful 
times?” 

The dolls all shouted together that she had. 

“Then trust me for this one and be sure 
we shall work it out together, and when Janie 
comes Santa Claus will be peeping over her 
shoulder. Wait a moment.” 

The Queen disappeared and presently 
they heard the whirring sound of the singing 
bird. Then she danced in again. 

“Now I’ve sent my messengers for some¬ 
body you’ll be pleased to see, but I’m not 
going to tell you any more. I want it to be 
a surprise. I’m going to stay here with you 
till Janie comes back.” 


12 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“You are!” cried the dolls, and at once 
they formed a ring and danced about her, 
singing a joyous tune. 

“Oh,” said Rosabel, “how glad I am! 
Now we know everything will be all right 
for Christmas.” 

“Indeed we do, and now; pop into bed. 
I’ll sleep in Janie’s bed.” 

She tucked them in snug and warm, 
kissed them good night and presently all that 
was to be heard was a far-away rooster 
crowing. 



CHAPTER II 

Next morning the dolls were wakened by 
a bell tinkling, then they heard Dinah call: 

“You all better get up. I got cakes and 
bacon all ready.” 

The dolls sleepily tumbled out of bed. 

Rosabel trotted over to Janie’s bed; the 
other dolls followed and stood on tiptoe, 
peeping at the Queen. How dear she looked 
with her eyes closed. Her yellow curls lay 
on the pillow and one tiny hand was tucked 
under her pink cheek. 

The dolls crept close and suddenly the 


14 





















THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Queen opened her eyes. They all shouted, 
for it seemed almost too good to be true that 
she was really with them and that they were 
once more scampering about. 

She raised her head and sniffed. 

“What do I smell?” she asked. 

“Oh, Dinah’s pancakes and crispy 
bacon.” 

“Good—let’s hurry!” 

At once they all became very busy. 
Janie’s father had given the dolls a bathroom 
all their own. In the wee tub they splashed 
like a lot of tiny cupids. 

Presently they were all dressed, seated at 
the table gobbling up the golden brown cakes 
and curly bacon. 

Dinah was so proud to be baking cakes 
for the Queen. She sailed in and out of the 
room, almost like a queen herself. As they 
finished the meal their beloved one said: 

“Now we shall make our beds and when 
the nursery is all spick and span, we’re going 
to make a call.” 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

How exciting to make a call with the 
Queen! 

At once these seventeen dolls went to 
work. The covers of the wee beds had been 
thrown back so they were ready to be made. 
Then they swept and dusted. When all was 
in order, they wonderingly followed the 
Queen out of the house. 

To their great joy, she led them next door 
where the Doll Lady used to live. 

The Queen rang the bell, the door opened, 
and there she stood. 

“We didn’t know you were back,” said 
Rosabel. “When did you come?” 

“Oh,” laughed the Doll Lady, “didn’t you 
hear the flying birds in the night? One of 
them came for me and brought me with 
Patty on its back. 

“We had a lovely ride. The Queen 
wanted us to come. I don’t know why. 
Come in.” 

And she led them into the lovely room 
where they used to have such good times. 

16 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

There they found Patty, and glad indeed they 
were to see her again. 

“Well,” said the Queen, “I do want you. 
I need you very much. Something new has 
come to Cloverdale.” 

“How nice. I’m so glad I can be in it. 
Tell me what it is.” 

“It’s an idea and it isn’t a bit nice.” 

“Oh,” said the Doll Lady in cheery tones, 
“then it won’t stay here.” 

“I hope not, but it looks kind of bother¬ 
some to me. It is something that has crept 
in here, like a thief in the night. It came 
from the East with the new people who just 
moved in. 

“This is it—they say there is no Santa 
Claus.” 

The Doll Lady was so astonished at this 
news, she held up her hands in horror. 

“Dear! Dear!” she said, “how sad that 
sounds. What a dreary world this would be 
if that were true.” 

At these words Rosabel came closer and 


17 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

her little hand crept into that of the Doll 
Lady’s, as she said: 

“You do believe in him! I’m so glad.” 
“Indeed, I do, my dear. 

“Surely not many could decide not to 



believe in such a splendid being as Santa 
Claus.” 

“Well,” said the Queen, “you can’t tell. 
I’ve heard quite a lot about it here and there; 
seems to be sort of an epidemic sweeping 
about. I never dreamed it could get into 
Cloverdale, but we will soon settle it. 






THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Now, dear Mrs. Doll Lady, we want you 
to help us. Will you?” 

“Will I? Just watch me. Cloverdale is 
a wonderful place to settle things. We know 
that. I’ll love it.” 

“Of course, only a few here would say 
there was no Santa Claus. We will soon win 
them over. I am sure Janie’s family all be¬ 
lieve in him.” 

“No,” came in stifled tones from one 
who stood apart from the others. “I do 
not.” 

“You, Belinda! Well! Well! Tell us 
why.” 

“I’ve been to all the meetings with the 
dolls and their mothers. I know all about 
it,” she finished, importantly tossing her head 
at those about her. 

They stared, amazed, and drew away from 
the unbeliever. 

“Meetings? What meetings?” asked the 
Doll Lady. 

“Oh, they have a club. The new girl 


19 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

from the East is President. She’s the one 
who brought the idea.” 

“A club! Well! How interesting. We 
had a club once upon a time. It reminds 
me of that. You all remember, of course. 
That was when the girls stopped believing 
in dolls and carried Teddy Bears around 
under their wings. We soon settled that. 

“You remember how the Bears flew away. 
This idea also will fly away. We, too, will 
have a club.” 

At this news the dolls began to prance 
about—crying: 

“A club—oh, what fun! We’ll love it. 
What will we do?” 

“Do? You wait, we’ll have a grand time. 
Belinda, are there many in that club?” 

“Most of the doll mothers. They just 
follow that girl from the East as though she 
were Mary and they were her lambs.” 

At these words the Doll Lady looked 
grave. 

“Well,” she said, “we must learn more 


20 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

about this. The first thing for us to do is 
to call a meeting. We won’t say what for. 
“We’ll have it in Janie’s big playroom.” 
“Yes,” said the Queen, “we will, and I’ll 
go around this moment and say how do you 



do and invite them. You might go over and 
get the room ready. Build up a big fire and 
make it look as jolly as possible.” 

Away went the Queen and away went 
the Doll Lady with the live dolls scam¬ 
pering at her heels. 


21 







THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

They all helped, while Dinah cooked 
lunch. The fire crackled merrily, cheering 
them on in their work. 

“Listen to it,” said Rosabel. “Seems to 
be saying—‘Hurrah for Santa Claus,’” and 
she cast a look of scorn at Belinda who 
seemed rather uncomfortable. 

“Don’t sound like that to me,” she scoffed. 
“Sounds to me like—‘Santa Claus? Who is 
he?’ ” 

“Here! Here! This won’t do!” said the 
Doll Lady. “Belinda has as much right to 
her opinion as you have to yours. It is just 
for us to find out which is right. There’s 
the lunch bell. Come.” 

The dolls were hungry, and Dinah’s 
lunch smelled good. 

“Who ever made better jelly omelette 
and such cunning baked potatoes like 
hickory nuts!” 

“These omelettes look like squatty yellow 
toads, and, oh, the darling wee biscuits!” 

“Where did we get these cute little sil- 


22 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

ver pitchers for the syrup?” chattered the 
dolls. 

“I brought them,” said the Doll Lady. 
“They were in a store window, just begging 
me to buy them for you. 

“You can use them for cream for your 
baked apples, too.” 

They all talked at once as they ate, sound¬ 
ing like a flock of birds around a heap of 
crumbs, tossed out from a near-by window. 

“Now,” said the Doll Lady as they 
finished, “we shall help Dinah with the 
dishes, then we shall all put on clean dresses 
and be ready for the meeting.” 

The dolls soon had the dishes in neat 
rows on the shelves and very soon they stood 
by the window with shining faces and clean 
crisp dresses, watching down the street. 

“Here they come! Here they come!” 
they cried presently, and sure enough there 
came a real procession up the street; all the 
doll mothers and their dolls headed by the 
Queen. 


23 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

They were much excited over being called 
to a meeting, and they all sat down and won- 
deringly waited to know what it was all 
about. 



CHAPTER III 

The Queen took the chair which was 
placed at one end of the room beside a table. 

When all was very, very still, the Queen 
rose, saying: 

“I know you are glad to welcome me 
once more. How many heard my bugle at 
midnight? Not many I see. Well, you 
knew this morning that I had arrived.” 

“Oh, yes,” cried one and another, “our 
dolls wakened us and we were so happy to 
see them dancing about.” 

“Of course, you were. I came now to 
help you to have a merry Christmas. At 
25 












THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


once when I appeared, I heard an amazing 
thing. That’s why I have called this meet¬ 
ing. I was told that some of you have 
suddenly decided there is no Santa Claus. 
How about it?” 

The girls all turned toward the newcomer 
who had lately moved to Cloverdale. 

“Tell her,” they whispered. 

The new girl, who by the way seemed a 
very fashionable one, arose and stammered: 

“Well some of us have decided that.” 

“Why?” asked the Queen. 

“Oh,” she said, tossing her head, “no one 
in the East believes in him. Only babies 
do. Because babies do, we have to keep it 
a secret, but our meetings are just splendid.” 

“Indeed,” said the Queen, “too bad to 
keep a splendid thing a secret. Secrets are 
so interesting. Since there are no babies 
here would you be allowed to tell us a little 
bit about this new idea?” 

“Well, in the East we had a club. I 
thought it would be nice to form one here. 

26 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


So I did. We’re having a grand time. It 
is such fun to have them secret.” 

“Is that so,” mused the Queen, nodding 
at the fire. 

“It would be well if some secrets were 
never told. I fancy this may be one of that 
kind. You are the President of this club, I 
hear?” 

“Oh, yes,” cried her followers, “she is 
the only one who knows how to manage it.” 

“Oh!” murmured the Queen, again nod¬ 
ding her head at the fire. “I also will form 
a club. The members of mine will believe 
in Santa Claus. All who want to join may 
come here.” 

At once many scampered across the room, 
all eager to be the first to reach the Queen’s 
side. As she looked about her she saw all 
of Janie’s dolls except Belinda, and a few of 
the girls and their dolls. But alas; many 
more stood by the girl of fashion. 

The Queen was surprised to see that the 
new idea had so many followers. 


27 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

She bade them all be seated again. Then 
said to the new girl: 

“I wish you would tell me a little about 
how this new idea started.” 

“Of course it started in the East. Every¬ 
thing worth while does,” said the Presi¬ 
dent proudly. “And my mother says it’s 
time to ’bolish Santa Claus.” 

“ ’Bolish \” repeated the Queen sweetly. 
“Pray tell us what that means.” 

“I don’t know,” said the wise girl, “but 
that’s what she said.” 

“I’ll tell you,” said the Queen. “The word 
is abolish. It means to put out. Just like 
this.” 

She snatched a candle from a near-by 
table, lit it, then blew it out. 

“There! See the wick smoking so sad 
because we didn’t want its beautiful light to 
shine. 

“You mean to ’bolish dear old Santa 
Claus just like that I s’pose. Can’t you just 
see him blinking his eyes in wonder, drop- 

28 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

ping tears over his red coat because some 
people in the East decided it was time to 
abolish him? 

“Well, I want to tell you it can’t be done. 
See! I’ll light the candle again, and nP 



matter how many times it is put out, I can 
keep on lighting it. 

“And no matter how many times clubs 
or mothers or children or live dolls say he is 
abolished, he will still bob up when Christ¬ 
mas comes and fill the stockings while 


29 




THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


Prancer and Dancer paw about on the roof 
jingling their bells.” 

At this the dolls standing beside the 
Queen began to dance and prance, just like 
the reindeer and Rosabel cried: 

“Oh, you dear Queen. I am so glad you 
came. You always make things so bright 
and jolly. Janie has gone and it seemed so 
dreadful to have Santa Claus go too.” 

“It does indeed, but he isn’t going,” said 
the Queen in cheery tones, “and now we 
will talk this over. Christmas will be trot¬ 
ting along one of these days. 

“We know how we keep it with the jolly 
old Elf. 

“I would like to know how you plan to 
keep it without him. Is that also a secret?” 

“Oh, no,” said the new girl, “we haven’t 
quite decided yet. We plan to, at our next 
meeting.” 

“How interesting! I wonder how it will 
seem to have no Santa Claus,” mused the 
Queen. 


30 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Well, dear Queen,” cried Belinda, “tell 
us this. If there is a Santa Claus, how can 
he go all over the world in one night?” 

“Yes,” cried the girl of fashion, “tell us 
that. Of course he can’t,” she declared. 

“Oh, I see the trouble now,” said the 
Queen. “The kind of Santa Claus you be¬ 
lieve in just couldn’t go all over the world 
in one night. 

“Also he is so fat he could only go down 
large chimneys. 

“I think that kind of a Santa Claus isn’t 
much good. I don’t believe in him either. 
The Santa Claus I believe in can go any¬ 
where all at once. Big chimneys, small 
chimneys or no chimneys. He can always 
get there. He is the most splendid one you 
can possibly know about and you can’t put 
him out any more than you can the sun, 
moon and stars. 

“Now then, any more want to join my 
club?” 

The dolls grouped about the girl of 
31 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


fashion, gazed wistfully up at her and Be¬ 
linda bravely tripped across to the Queen’s 
side and clasped her hand. 

The President was silent for a moment, 
then said: 



“Where I came from it isn’t fashionable 
to believe in him. So I think we’ll still stay 
in our club.” 

“Fashionable!” sputtered the Queen. 
“What does that mean?” 

“Oh, don’t you know? It means to be 


32 





THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

in style. All styles start in the East, you 
know.” 

At this the Queen was silent for a 
moment, her face very sad. Suddenly she 
brightened and cried joyously: 

“Why I just thought of something. Per¬ 
haps styles do start in the East. My Santa 
Claus started there ages ago. He came in 
with the Star of Bethlehem, and so of course, 
he can’t possibly go out of style. He always 
has been and always will be. That’s the joy 
of believing in him. He’s like the sunshine. 
Even when it’s raining, we know the sun 
still shines somewhere.” 

“But how can he go everywhere?” asked 
one of the non-believers. 

“That’s the beautiful thing about him. 
How he does it. Let’s pretend he is one big 
round sun. You have seen the rays from the 
sun, how hundreds of tiny shafts of light 
shine in all directions. Just so on the hun¬ 
dreds of tiny rays that shine far down the 
path from Santa Claus, ride his messengers. 


33 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

How far do the sun rays go? Who knows? 
Just so far go Santa Claus’ messengers. You 
can’t keep them out any more than you can 
keep out the sunshine.” 

“Did any one ever thee him?” lisped the 
Arabella doll. 

“Nobody sees him, but is that any sign 
there is none? Did you ever see fairies 
dancing in the moonlight? 

“No, but that doesn’t prove anything, 
does it? 

“You still believe in them when you go 
to the woods and see a pink umbrella that 
pretends it’s a mushroom. You can almost 
see a bunch of fairies snuggling up under it 
in case of a sudden shower. 

“When you see roots of big trees sticking 
up, forming rooms carpeted with moss and 
in a corner of one room a bed of fine needles, 
no one needs to tell you fairies live there, 
You know it. 

“Shut your eyes and see if you can see 
them there keeping house. Did you ever 
34 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


play ‘let’s pretend’? It’s a fine game. S’pose 
we play it for a few moments. All close 
your eyes. Rosabel, what do you see?” 

“Oh,” cried Rosabel, much excited, “I 
know the darling rooms around the trunk of 
a big oak where I play dolls. I can see the 
fairy mother wearing a leaf apron, her curls 
are tucked under a wild-flower cap. She is 
getting dinner. I can just see her preparing 
the food, sitting on a button mushroom.” 

“Good! Who else sees something?” 
asked the Queen. 

“I,” cried Elsie Grace. “I see all the 
little baby fairies swinging in cobweb 
cradles, jeweled with dewdrops. They look 
as if a rainbow had burst and all the tiny 
colored bubbles had lodged there.” 

“Oh, now let me tell,” cried Belinda. “I 
see a dear little church. In front of it are 
columns of Indian pipes, all so white and 
pure. They shine like silver. Quite near by 
is a nest of baby thrushes and the mother 
birds sing the babies to sleep while the fairy 


35 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

mothers go to twilight service. The bird 
song sounds like an organ playing softly. 
Then the fairies kneel and bow their heads 
just like the crystal pipes. Then they all 
sing so sweetly. I can almost hear them.” 

“Lovely,” said the Queen, “and now 
try to see if you can see what I see. 
Around every tree in that big woods and in 
every woods all over the world, I see tiny 
fairy homes. It is Christmas Eve. The 
stockings are hung. The fairies are all 
asleep.” 

Then she almost whispered, “It is so still 
I hardly dare to breathe. Now just like 
magic appear hundreds of red-coated, fur- 
trimmed, fairy Santa Clauses. You can hear 
them singing as they come flying across the 
sky, seated in sleighs drawn by fairy rein¬ 
deer. Into every home they go and empty 
their packs. Then away they fly, singing— 
‘Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good 
night!’ 

“Who saw it?” 


36 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Oh, I did. I did!” cried the dolls and 
doll mothers. “Tell us some more.” 

“No more pretend this time. Now you 
see, we have two ideas about Santa Claus. 
One is a big fat man you can see. If you 
believe in him, Johnny Jones won’t have his 
stocking filled because his chimney is too 
small for that Santa Claus to go down. 
Wherever that Santa Claus goes, there are 
some places where he can’t get in because 
some homes have no chimneys. That Santa 
Claus you can see, but what good does that 
do? 

“The other isn’t a big fat mian, but he 
can go any place. We can’t see him but we 
like him much better for that reason. 

“Now choose—you who believe in Santa 
Claus—which one do you want?” 

“Oh, your sunshiny one,” cried the dolls 
grouped about her. 

Those standing on the other side of the 
room were very still. Some of them were 
pulling at the President’s skirts begging her 


37 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

to join the Queen’s club, but she shook her 
head. 

“Well,” cried the Queen, “which shall 
it be—Christmas with Santa Claus or with¬ 
out?” 



“I’ll take mine with Santa Claus, thank 
you!” “And I.” “And I,” came from the 
many dolls and mothers. 

“Will you please tell us, dear Queen, why 
they have those Santa Claus men around by 
the trees at Christmas time?” 

“Why do little girls have dolls and pre¬ 
tend they are their children? This world is 
38 





THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


full of pretends. It’s lots more fun. 
Isn’t it? 

“When you play the fairy game in the 
woods, it’s more fun than just to walk along 
without any delicious imaginings. 

“I love to pretend. The red-coated Santa 
Clauses make it seem more Christmasy. 
Dolls in your doll house make it seem more 
like a really truly home, doesn’t it? 

“Fairies in the woods make it seem more 
as though you were in Fairy-land. 

“Now,” she said to the President, “we 
have two clubs. Isn’t it fun! I shall call 
mine, ‘The Live Dolls’ Santa Claus Club.’ 
Would you be allowed to tell us the name of 
yours?” 

“Oh, yes—it’s the ‘No Santa Claus Club.’ 
It couldn’t be anything else, you know.” 

“No Santa Claus,” mused the Queen. 
“What a sad name. Before I knew of these 
clubs, I had badges made for us all to wear 
at Christmas time and they will fit my club 
perfectly.” 


39 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


As she talked, the Queen produced a box 
from which she took and held up—oh, what 
do you suppose? 

A darling gold fairy Santa Claus, so 
shiny and bright. His red suit was trimmed 
with fur, just as in the poem. On his back 
he carried a pack. 

“His cheeks are like roses, his nose like 
a cherry,” sang Rosabel, as the Queen pinned 
one on her waist. 

Presently on each little breast, shone the 
jolly elf. 

“Isn’t he beautiful,” cried Elsie Grace. 

“And, oh, look,” said Belinda, “he carries 
a wand and on the end shines a gold star. 
,Why is that?” 

“Why the star? Oh, my dearies,” cried 
the Queen, her arms outstretched with such 
a loving look, “that star means a lot. Some¬ 
time I’ll tell you all about it. Not now. Any 
one else want badges?” with an inquiring 
look at those wistful faces across the way. 

Two or three took a step toward the 


40 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Queen, but stopped as the President tossed 
her head saying: 

“We wouldn’t care about those, thank 
you. We will have some of our own, and 
now we must go.” 

“I’m sorry,” said the Queen. “Remem¬ 
ber, any time you think you would like to 
join us, we shall welcome you with open 
arms. Good-by.” 

Sadly she watched the No Santa Claus 
Club file out the door and down the walk 
with dragging steps. 

“Oh,” cried one doll mother, “they don’t 
feel a bit skippy, do they? I wish that girl 
hadn’t come here. She’s just spoiled every¬ 
thing. We were always so happy when the 
Queen brought our dolls to life. Now every¬ 
thing seems all wrong.” 

“Never mind,” comforted the Doll Lady. 
“The first thing you know you’ll see her 
skipping over to join our club. They seem 
to love to play ‘follow the leader,’ so then 
they will all join. 


41 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“It reminds mef of the time when the 
Teddy Bears found their way into your 
hearts. You all remember we were rather 
sad for a while. Our two clubs finally be¬ 
came one. We had much fun working it 
out and it wasn’t long before the bears ran 
away.” 

“Yes,” cried Dinah, rolling her eyes, “an’ 
now we want to make dem dar No Santas 
change deir tune. Dat dar idee’s jus’ got 
to fly away from Cloverdale. No room for 
it in dis town. But how be we goin’ to 
make it go?” 

“Oh,” laughed the Doll Lady, “we’ll 
make a big kite and tie it, on to the tail. The 
first windy day you’ll see it fly up, up, and 
you’ll never hear of it again.” 

The Queen, at the window, watched the 
non-believers out of sight. Then she walked 
over to the fire—looking sadly at the flaming 
coals. 

“Oh,” cried Dinah, “can’t we play Ring- 
around-a-rosy for a moment? Dat no- 
skippy club kind o’ makes me feel creepy.” 

42 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“We will,” said the Queen. “I think we 
all want to do something to make us glad.” 

They clasped hands and after a rollicking 
game, which sent them all into a gale of 
laughter, they again seated themselves in a 
circle. 

The snapping of the fire gave Dinah an 
idea which sent her to the kitchen. In a 
moment she came back carrying a corn- 
popper and a wee pan of corn. 

“Dem dar coals was just beggin’ us to 
pop corn. You all didn’t hear what dey 
sayin’, but I did.” 

As she talked she filled the popper and 
shook it above the embers. 

Presently from the jolly crackle came a 
crispy mass which she turned out into 
saucers. 

Next melted butter crept its way through 
the snowy kernels. Then the dolls, with 
their little feet close to the fire, ate the corn 
while Dinah’s funny stories kept them in a 
jolly mood. 

“Well,” said the Queen after a time, “I 


43 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

think we now feel skippy enough to talk 
over what we are to do.” 

As she told them her plans, their eyes 
sparkled and they hopped about crying: 

“Oh, you dear Queen, what fun it will 
be. How soon may we begin?” 

“Right away. The Doll Lady will help 
us. I think we will have more fun than we 
ever had. Now run home and tell your 
mothers all about the club and what we are 
to do.” 

The children and their dolls scampered 
toward home while the Queen, the Doll Lady 
and Janie’s dolls tidied up the playroom. 

“Oh,” said the Doll Lady as they worked, 
“what fun it is to have you dollies alive 
again! I love to hear your little feet pat¬ 
tering about.” 

“Well,” said Rosabel, “if you feel that 
way, how do you s’pose we feel? 

“You’d know if you had to sit in a cor¬ 
ner all day just smiling and staring. Some¬ 
times it just seems as though I must jump up 
and down and clap my hands.” 


44 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Yes,” said Dinah, “an’ sometimes I just 
ache to make a fire an’ pop a pan of biscuits 
in the oven.” 

“Well, Dinah you may do that any time 
you want to,” said the Queen. 

“From now on we are to be very busy, 
and biscuits, corn bread or cookies will 
taste very good. Fill up the pantry shelves 
with all sorts of sweets. We might start out 
our good times with a candy pull after 
supper.” 

“Oh, Dinah, may we help get supper?” 
begged Rosabel. 

“Well, yes, if you’ll be keerful an’ not 
spill stuff on ma clean flo’.” 

“That will be fun,” said the Queen. 
“Rosabel, you might put on the kettle of 
molasses. We’ll start the candy now, then 
it will be ready to pull when you finish 
supper.” 

And so at once the seventeen dolls were 
racing around, some setting the table, others 
cooking. 

Soon sweet odors crept through the little 


45 


J 

THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

house. One had only to sniff to know what 
was bobbing around in the shiny kettles on 
top of the stove. 

Do you want to know what was in them? 
Peep into the largest and see wee potatoes 
getting ready to be fluffed. In the steamer 
are small bits of squash soon to be turned 
into a delicious golden mass. 

Open the oven door and see a tiny loaf 
of ginger bread and a meat roast, turning 
brown and crispy. 

After supper the candy was pulled, cut 
up into buttercups and put out to cool. 

When they had eaten all they wanted, 
they were all so sleepy, they were quite ready 
to go to bed. 

So presently the little house was still as 
a mouse and all that could be heard were 
the many clocks singing their various tunes. 



CHAPTER IV 

The next day the Santa Claus Club 
became very busy. Delicious Christmas 
secrets began to fly through the village. 
Dolls and their mothers were shopping. In 
the homes they were shut in their own rooms 
and “Oh, don’t look” was heard on all sides. 

Janie’s seventeen dolls were busy, too. 
Some were sewing on bright silks, others 
were using water colors. Still others were 
weaving cunning baskets. Even Dinah 
darted behind the pantry door, vainly trying 
to hide a flash of silver beads. 


47 




THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

The Queen was here and there and every¬ 
where, but she came in each day from a walk 
through the village, looking troubled. 

One evening after supper, the dolls and 
the Doll Lady were seated before the fire. 
They were all working on various gifts when 
the Queen appeared. 

“What’s the matter?” asked the Doll 
Lady. “You look very sad.” 

“I am. I hoped the No Santas would join 
us by this time. I find they not only have 
no idea of it, but are working hard against 
us. They are even trying to get some of our 
members into their club. 

“I met them all trooping down the street. 
They looked very unhappy and barely spoke 
to me.” 

“Well,” said the Doll Lady, “if they 
won’t see what that idea does to them, we 
must make them see!” 

For a moment there was silence, then the 
Queen cried: 

“Oh, oh, oh! I’ve thought of something 
48 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

splendid. We’ll just show them what it will 
mean to have Christmas with no Santa 
Claus.” 

“How kin we do dat?” asked Dinah. 

“We’ll have a play!” 

“A play!” echoed the dolls and: 

“A play!” echoed the Doll Lady. 

“Yes—it just came to me. 

“I want them to give up this idea they 
think is so fine. 

“The play will help them to see the truth 
about it as nothing else will and if I’m not 
much mistaken, they will all be wearing our 
badges after the curtain goes down on the 
last act.” 

“But who will be in the play?” asked 
Elsie Grace. 

“All of you.” 

This news made them even more excited 
than they were before, and then and there in 
the glow of the fire they danced as they 
never had. 

When they quieted down, the Queen told 


49 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

them there would be much work to do now 
and they must all help. In order to have 
the play she must go away for a few days. 

The Doll Lady would stay with them and 
while they waited for her, they could be 
working on the costumes which must be 
made. 

“I’ll send back material for them,” she 
said. “At present this must be a secret, so say 
nothing in the village about it.” 

As she talked, the Queen opened the win¬ 
dow and after a few notes from the bugle, 
the sound of humming bees filled the air. 

Then the twinkling lights were seen. 

“I’ll soon be back,” she said, as she bade 
them all good-by. Then the flying birds car¬ 
ried her far, far away. 

Very soon the excitement began. 

Boxes and packages arrived. The Doll 
Lady and the dolls opened them to find all 
sorts of things. Shining filmy stuffs, dotted 
with spangles, gold and silver fringe, bright 
colored tassels, pompons, odd shaped caps. 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


Queer strapped slippers trimmed with shin¬ 
ing beads of all colors. To wear with these 
were embroidered lacy stockings. 

All of these things were for dolls, of 
course, and if one is a doll, a live one, such 
a mass of finery would make one feel very 
happy indeed. Therefore, these dolls chat¬ 
tered and sang and could hardly wait to 
make the wee clothes and try them on. 

The Doll Lady was also much excited as 
she read the letter which came with the 
boxes. 

“Look!” she cried, showing them a sheet 
full of pictures. “These tell just how to 
make the clothes. We will have a shop.” 

The Doll Lady ran to the desk and in a 
moment over the door appeared a sign. 

“Doll actresses’ clothes made to order.” 

That would be fun, they thought, as they 
read it. Then the dolls brought forth their 
tiny work-boxes. 

These were fitted out with thimbles, 
scissors, spools and even tape-measures. 

Si 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


Every one of them very small. The baskets 
were no larger than teacups. 

“Now,” said the Doll Lady, “we’ll have 
a great time. I’m the manager of the dress¬ 
making shop; you are my helpers. 

“Here come the other members of the 
club, all looking so eager to know why I 
sent for them. 

“Sit down in your little chairs and I will 
show you just what to do.” 

At once shiny scissors snipped at the 
beautiful colored silks. 

Thimbles seemed to love to make the 
needles flash in and out. Seams were sewed, 
skirts were hemmed, knots of bright ribbon 
were placed here and there. 

Then the various garments were dotted 
with spangles. The gay tassels and fringes 
added finishing touches. 

The Doll Lady hovered over them, tell¬ 
ing each one what to do next, and, after 
many days, about the room hung the finished 
gowns swinging to and fro. 


5 2 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“How lovely they look,” said the Doll 
Lady, closing the door. “I’m glad they are 
finished. We have worked faithfully and 
now I want to take you for a walk.” 

The dolls hippetty-hopped down the 
street, following the Doll Lady who led them 
to the Town Hall. 

“Oh,” cried Rosabel, “what’s happened 
to it?” 

“You haven’t been this way for some 
time,” said the Doll Lady. “The Queen has 
had her workers busy here too. She was 
given permission to turn this into a chil¬ 
dren’s theater.” 

“How lovely!” they cried, and indeed it 
was. 

The whole outside had been changed and 
looked like a quaint doll house. The inside 
also was made over. 

Rows of chairs filled the place and a dear 
little stage stood ready waiting for the cur¬ 
tain to rise. 

“You see,” said the Doll Lady, “it is 


S3 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

built for children and grown-ups also. The 
front rows are for dolls only. See the cun¬ 
ning chairs for them. I wonder if they 
will fit.” 

The dolls at once sat down and found the 
chairs were perfect. 

“Look!” cried Rosabel and— 

“Oh! Oh!” shrieked the dolls, for as if 
by magic the place grew dark, a bell tinkled 
and up rolled the curtain. 

In the glow of the footlights, a fairy stood 
smiling down at them. She was robed in 
shimmering, shiny garments and when they 
saw it was the Queen, they clapped and they 
shouted. 

She raised her hand. At once there was 
silence. 

“I knew you would be delighted to see 
me up here,” she said. “I have been here 
for some days, directing this work. It is 
finished. I passed by the doll house after 
you left and peeped into the windows of 
the playroom. You certainly have been busy. 

54 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


I never saw prettier clothes. Now we must 
get to work on the play. The dolls of the 
village who belong to our club are also to 
be in it. 

“This morning every one received an 
announcement of it. It will not take long 
to prepare. The people in this town will 
see a play such as no one ever saw before. I 
am sure they will love it. As you go out, 
you will be given the printed sheets for your 
parts. These you must learn. Then come 
the rehearsals. Next the play will go on.” 

As she gaily nodded and waved to them, 
the curtain rolled down. Again the dolls 
clapped and shouted; then they filed out, 
each receiving a roll of paper tied with red 
ribbons. 

Now they were busier than ever. Curled 
up in chairs and on couches, they studied. 
The house was filled with a low murmur. 

Even Dinah, as she mopped her kitchen 
and made biscuits, repeated sentences over 
and over. 


55 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 
“Oh, come and see Dinah!” said Rosabel 
one day. 

They all crept close to the pantry door. 
There they saw her holding her potato- 



masher on high—rolling her eyes and crying 
in tragic tones: 

“Don’ you all try to tell me dey is no 
Sandy Claws! I know’s dey is.” With that 
she brought down the weapon with such a 
bang that the pans rattled on the shelves. 

“Sounds as though they were applaud- 
56 















THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

ing,” whispered one of the dolls as they ran 
back to study. 

It took some time for these little dolls 
to learn their parts. The rehearsals which 
followed were great fun. 

These took place in the theater, and the 
dolls’ mothers begged in vain to come and 
watch. 

It all seemed so mysterious to them to 
think of dolls acting in a play. 

The whole town was quite excited over' 
it and when the final moment came, even 
before the doors were opened, there were 
crowds waiting outside. 

Fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers 
soon filled the place. As they took their 
seats, each one was given a gilded wand, 
tipped with a star, with the words “Hold fast 
all I give you.” 

“Sounds like button, button, who’s got 
the button,” said one, as they seated them¬ 
selves and looked about. 

What they saw surprised them so they 


57 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

could hardly sit still. Never had they seen 
such a perfect theater built for children and 
their dolls. 

Since it was a Christmas play, holly and 
pine were seen everywhere. The curtain pic¬ 
tured a winter scene. In the moonlight, 
wee pine trees sparkled with snow-covered 
branches. On the tip of each tree stood a 
red-coated Santa Claus, who seemed to be 
waving his wand to the audience, while 
above them shone a beautiful bright star. 

As the audience watched for the curtain 
to rise, suddenly they heard music. 

“Oh, look!” cried one and another. 

What do you think they saw? 

A dear little boy doll orchestra. They 
filed in taking their seats under the foot¬ 
lights. 

“They have on dress suits,” said one. 
“Look at the cute boy with the tiny drum, 
and see that violinist! Who ever saw any¬ 
thing so darling!” 

The music was so soft it seemed as though 

58 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

if one breathed very hard, it might blow 
away. 

They listened to the sweet strains till a 
bell tinkled. 

The curtain rose showing a tiny living- 
room just large enough for dolls. At one 
end was a fireplace where a cheery fire 
crackled and snapped. 

Like Cinderella, Rosabel sat in the rosy 
glow and like Cinderella she sat alone weep¬ 
ing. 

“What’s the matter now?” cried Dinah, 
striding in on the little stage, her kinky hair 
standing up straighter and higher than usual. 

In her hand she held the potato-masher. 

“Oh!” wailed Rosabel, “I heard such an 
awful piece of news.” 

“What was it?” cried a group of dolls, 
rushing in from a hallway. 

“I can’t bear to tell you, it is so dread¬ 
ful. I hope you won’t believe it, but I heard 
there was no Santa Claus!” 

“No Santa Claus!” echoed the other dolls, 


59 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

while in the audience, the girl from the East 
moved uneasily in her chair. 

Dinah raised her potato-masher, exclaim¬ 
ing: 

“No one dares to tell me dere is no Sandy 
Claws. I knows ’tain’t true!” 

“Rosabel,” cried Elsie Grace, going close 
to the weeping one. “You know it can’t be 
true. Why do you cry?” 

“I just can’t help it, what would Christ¬ 
mas be without the jolly old fellow?” 

“Yeth,” lisped Arabella, “Chrithmas 
couldn’t be at all.” 

“Some folks do believe there isn’t any,” 
said one doll. 

“Here,” cried Elsie Grace, snatching a 
tray from the table and scampering around 
to each one, “let’s find out if any of you 
want Christmas without him.” 

She held the tray before each one crying, 
“Have some Christmas. Some’s with Santa 
Claus. Some’s without. Which will you 
have?” 


60 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“I’ll take mine with, thank you,” said one 
and another. 

A ripple of laughter swept the audience 
as Dinah said: 

“Sounds like when I pass baked apples, 
and ask with or without cream. They’re 
mighty dry without, but some folks seem to 
like things ’thout no trimmin’s, and, b’leeve 
me, Christmas without Sandy Claws would 
have mighty few trimmin’s. No stockings 
hangin’, no nothin’.” 

“Well,” said Belinda, “I’m not so sure 
there is one. I heard a lot about it when my 
mother took me to school.” 

Here the girl of fashion leaned forward, 
eager to hear the reply. 

“You!” cried Rosabel. 

“Yes,” bravely spoke the doubting one. 

“They said, ‘How could he go all over 
the world in one night? He couldn’t and 
who ever saw him? No one.’ ” 

The eastern' girl flushed as she heard her 
own words quoted. 


61 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


The members of her club seated about 
her smiled and gave her a glance which 
seemed to say that of course these questions 
could be answered in no other way. 

After much conversation on the subject, 
one doll said she thought some one should 
go and find out the truth about it. 

Here Rosabel brought forth a broom 
from which she cut splints, making them 
various lengths. 

“Now,” she said, placing them in a book, 
“only one can go on this errand. The one 
who draws the shortest, shall be it.” 

She held forth the book and each doll 
marched past, drawing a tiny straw. 

“Now measure,” said Rosabel. 

“Belinda has it,” chorused the dolls. 

“She’s just the one to go,” said Elsie 
Grace. “She almost thinks there is no Santa 
Claus.” 

Belinda stood looking at the straw in her 
hand, then at the dolls. 

“.Come,” said Rosabel, “we must get her 
62 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

ready for the journey. She can only travel 
at night, you know.” 

They flew about, packing a tiny satchel. 
In a moment they followed her to the door, 
kissing her good-by. 

“It’s a beautiful night,” said Belinda. 



“The moon makes everything so silvery, and 
see the star. I never saw it so bright.” 

The dolls closed the door and all ran to 
the window to watch her. Here the scene 
shifted and Belinda was seen outside waving 
to the dolls. Then she ran back and called 
63 





THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 
through the keyhole, “JVhich way shall 
I go?” 

A far-away voice cried, “Follow the star.” 

Belinda trudged along, at the edge of a 
forest, looking upward at a very bright star. 
Then she turned and looked at the man in 
the moon. 

“He seems to be taking care of me,” she 
said aloud. “How lovely the woods are in 
the shining light.” 

Suddenly she paused, raised her tiny 
hand, saying, “Hark— I hear the woodsy 
creatures scurrying about. I think I’ll sit 
down for a moment. It is so beautiful.” 

She seated herself on a stump and pres¬ 
ently her head nodded drowsily. 

Suddenly she heard fairy music; then 
there came floating toward her a dear little 
fairy. She wore a flowing gown of white, 
with a hood falling back from her face. 

Belinda fairly gasped as she saw her stop 
quite close to her. A rosy glow shone about 
her and seemed to enfold them both. 

64 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Oh!” cried Belinda, “how nice and 
warm you make it. I didn’t know I was 
cold.” 

The Fairy crept closer, holding out a 
silvery wand, on the end of which gleamed 
a star, almost as bright as the one in the sky. 
Belinda looked up to compare them and 
found the star in the heavens had vanished. 

“Where is it?” she cried. 

“Where is what?” asked the Fairy. 

“The star, it shone so bright. I was told 
to follow it.” 

“Follow it where?” asked the Fairy. 

“To find out about Santa Claus.” 

The Fairy gazed at her in surprise. 

“Do you, too, doubt?” she asked sadly. 
“Tell me why.” 

“Well,” said Belinda, “they were all talk¬ 
ing about it at school. Lots of children 
say there isn’t any.” 

“Why?” again asked the Fairy. 

“Well, how could he get all over the 
world and who ever saw him?” 

65 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Oh, my dear! my dear!” murmured the 
Fairy, “must we believe only what we see? 
Have you thought what the world would be 
without Santa Claus?” 

“I haven’t thought much about it. I 
s’pose ’cause I never had a Christmas with¬ 
out him.” 

“Come with me. I’ll show you,” whis¬ 
pered the Fairy. 

She clasped Belinda’s hand, and, waving 
her star wand in a half circle, the two seemed 
to float away. Like birds they skimmed 
across the deep blue sky, sprinkled with 
stars. 

The next scene showed the two entering 
a village store. 

The store was full of live dolls running 
around trying to buy Christmas presents. 
Toys were everywhere. Tiny trees stood 
ready trimmed, but in the top gleamed 
neither star nor angel. 

No one seemed glad. Many faces were 
even puckered into frowns. 

66 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“What’s the matter with them?” whis¬ 
pered Belinda. 

“Listen and you will see. It’s Christmas 
Eve here.” 

“I want a doll,” said one, “let me see that 
one in the blue dress.” 

The clerk handed her a beauty, but she 
shook her head at one and another. 

“No, I don’t want that,” she said. She 
looked and at last chose one, but seemed not 
very well pleased with it. 

A little boy bounced every ball he could 
find. The one he finally decided on, he said 
wasn’t a very good bouncer. 

“See that little girl,” whispered Belinda. 
“She wants dishes. That’s a lovely set, but 
she looks so cross at it. Why are they all 
so unhappy?” 

“They decided there was no Santa Claus. 
They thought it would be fun to buy their 
own presents. See them all with their arms 
full of bundles. They have no delicious se¬ 
crets, which are such fun at Christmas time.” 

67 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Why can’t they buy for one another, 
even if there is no Santa Claus?” asked 
Belinda. 

“They might, but they don’t want to. It 
seems to spoil all the fun when one gives 
up Santa Claus. 

“In all the stores they are doing this way, 
even the grown-ups. 

“Did you notice no one has said Merry 
Christmas and no one seems glad?” 

“Yes, I did,” said Belinda, “and it’s so 
cold and kind of gloomy in this place, even 
the star doesn’t shine here. Can’t we go 
back?” 

“Not yet. I want to show you something 
else,” said the Fairy. 

In the next scene, the two were peeping 
into an open window of a bedroom. 

In two little beds, lay two dolls. 

“No stockings are hanging,” whispered 
Belinda in horrified tones. 

“Why should they be?” sadly asked the 
Fairy. 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Their mothers could fill them,” declared 
Belinda. 

“Yes, but as I said before, they bought 
their own gifts. I see them over in the 
corner,” said the Fairy. “Listen.” 

Belinda now heard the sound of weep¬ 
ing. 

“Don’t cry, brother,” whispered a gentle 
voice. 

“I can’t help it. Christmas isn’t Christ¬ 
mas at all with no Santa Claus. 

“No stockings hanging nor anything. 
Even if there weren’t a Santa Claus, I’d 
rather pretend there is.” 

“Let’s,” joyfully cried the sister. 

The two jumped from their beds and 
cunning live dolls they were clad in white 
pajamas. They hung up their stockings and 
then hopped back under the covers. 

“You know, brother, I really do believe 
in him, but when they all said there wasn’t 
any, I didn’t like to be the only one to say 
I believed.” 


69 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“How can you believe when you never 
saw him?” 

Just here the windows rattled and the 
wind fairly howled about the house. 

“What’s that?” asked the sister. 

“Only the wind.” 

“How do you know? You never saw it.” 

“Well I just know,” said brother ear¬ 
nestly. 

“That’s how I know there’s a Santa 
Claus,” laughed the sister. “Just because 
you never saw him doesn’t prove any¬ 
thing.” 

“I s’pose not, but, sister, do you think he 
can go everywhere?” 

“Of course I do, but I don’t know how. 
Oh, brother, look! Quick!” 

Here the stage was darkened and these 
two dollies were seen looking from a win¬ 
dow in a wee home on a hilltop. On the 
roofs of the homes in the village below could 
be seen tiny red-coated figures going down 
the many chimneys. This picture vanished 


70 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


and the dolls were then seen back in their 
own beds, the brother saying: 

“Did you see, sister, or did we dream 
that?” 

“I thought I saw a lovely picture, but I 
didn’t need to, I believed without seeing.” 

“There seemed to be many Santa Clauses. 
Not one only. Isn’t that strange?” said 
brother. 

“No,” replied sister, “I’d rather believe 
in many ’cause then I’d know Santa Claus 
could go everywhere and no one would find 
an empty stocking.” 

“I think that’s a fine idea,” said brother. 

“I never thought of it before,” said the 
sister, “but do you know I think Santa Claus 
is just an Idea anyhow. Kind of like my 
baby doll is an idea of a baby.” 

“Oh, sister, I’m always going to believe 
in him. I feel so happy and full of love. 
I didn’t before.” 

“Of course you do. That’s what Santa 
Claus is, just love’s messenger.” 


71 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“This is the first minute IVe been happy 
for days. 

“It wasn’t a bit of fun buying our own 
presents. No one liked it. I want every one 
to be glad like we used to be. 

“What can we do about it?” 

“Let’s say the poem and go to sleep,” said 
sister. 

Now Belinda and the Fairy heard two 
little voices reciting in clear sweet tones, the 
dear old poem, The Night before Christ¬ 
mas, to a musical accompaniment. 

They listened with the audience and sud¬ 
denly the stage was darkened and then- 

“Oh, how lovely,” was heard on all sides 
for what do you think they saw now? 

A movie of the dear poem that never 
grows old. 

With the words and music each scene 
was flashed before them. First a procession 
of live dolls, clad in nighties, marched about 
before a fireplace. 

Then they were snuggled up in their 


72 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


beds. Next the father stood looking out of 
a window watching Santa Claus and his 
eight tiny reindeer dashing across the snow. 
They even heard his sleigh-bells coming 
nearer and nearer. 

Then he flew up on the roof, jumped 
from his sleigh and down the chimney he 
went. 

In the room, he stood dressed all in fur, 
with his pack of toys on the floor beside 
him. 

He filled all the stockings, then turned 
with a jerk and laying his finger aside of his 
nose and giving a nod, up the chimney he 
rose. 

They actually saw him spring into his 
sleigh and as he drove out of sight, heard 
his far-away voice cry, “Merry Christmas to 
all and to all a good night.” 

The music seemed to sing the words as 
the picture vanished and brother was heard 
to say, “Oh, I saw it all, did you?” 

“I did, and wasn’t it lovely?” 


73 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“I could even hear the bells,”' said 
brother. 

“Now, let’s go to sleep. When we 
waken, I just know we will find our stock¬ 
ings filled.” 



“Will they?” asked Belinda of the Fairy, 
as they floated away. 

“That depends,” said the Fairy. 

“What do you mean?” asked Belinda, 
much alarmed, “and why is it so dark? 
“Oh, look, dear Fairy—the star has even 


74 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


gone from your wand, but I seem to see it 
trying to shine through that black cloud. It 
is there, but it just can’t shine.” 

“Yes, it is always there even though some¬ 
times we can not see it. 

“Now shall we go back?” asked the 
Fairy. 

“Oh, not yet, can’t we do something 
about those empty stockings in that house?” 

“Empty stockings are hanging in every 
house in that village now. They all feel 
as did these two that somehow, they don’t 
know just how, but somehow, their stockings 
will be filled.” 

“Will they be filled?” asked Belinda 
anxiously. 

“It all depends,” again replied the Fairy. 
“They must decide it. Come, we have now 
a most important errand to do.” 

The audience waited scarcely breathing. 
Those empty stockings must be taken care 
of, but if no one believed in Santa Claus 
and every one had decided on this kind of 
75 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

a Christmas, what could be done about it? 
For these little ones who wanted to believe, 
Santa Claus still lived. 

Even the No Santa Claus Club seemed 
much interested and watched eagerly for the 
next act. 

The curtain rose now on a beautiful 
scene. It was night, and through the dark¬ 
ness one could barely see a star struggling 
to pierce the clouds. In the many village 
homes, not a light was to be seen. Down the 
street came a group of doll carolers led by 
the Fairy. Belinda was beside her won¬ 
dering what would happen next. As they 
passed the various homes, the Fairy whis¬ 
pered: 

“They are all asleep. When you sing, 
they will awaken and come out. They must. 
Stop here. Now sing.” 

Sweet voices shrilled through the dark 
night as many Christmas carols were sung. 
At last, “Oh, little town of Bethlehem” 
floated through the air. 

76 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Then at the various windows appeared 
white figures. In a moment the doors 
opened and out they came, each carrying a 
wand. 

“Come,” whispered the white Fairy. 

The carolers and other dolls followed her 
on and on in the mystical light that seemed 
to enfold them. 

“It’s like the Piper,” whispered Belinda, 
as the dolls clad in white nighties huddled 
close to the Fairy, trying to catch on to her 
gown. 

Here the curtain dropped and in a mo¬ 
ment it was raised to show them all on the 
village green. They were grouped about the 
Fairy; their wands held on high. 

“Listen,” she breathed. “I am here to 
tell you something. The word has gone out 
that the world is saying there is no Santa 
Claus. Everywhere my messengers are try¬ 
ing to right this. Do you like the Christmas 
you are having without him?” 

“No,” shouted the many voices.: 


77 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Then why do you want to do without 
him?” 

“We just thought there wasn’t any,” was 
the reply. 

“Nobody ever saw him,” said one, “what’s 
the use in believing in him?” 

“The grandest things there are, are those 
we can not see,” said the Fairy. 

“You never saw Love. Yet you believe 
Love is- 

“Do you believe in fairies?” 

The dolls all nodded their heads. 

“You believe they dance at midnight. Did 
you ever see them?” 

“No,” they shouted.. 

“Now watch and you will see them.” 

At this moment the stage was darkened. 
Then appeared a wondrous picture. 

Through a misty veil they saw a woodsy 
scene with fairies dancing in the moonlight. 
The orchestra played tinkling music while 
the tiny sprites floated about, light as thistle¬ 
down. 


78 



THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


They wore shimmering gauzy gowns 
dotted with spangles. 

“Now,” said the Fairy as the vision van¬ 
ished, “you did see them, but even without 
seeing them you believed. 

“You didn’t like the Christmas you were 
f to have. Let us find out the reason. 

“What were you doing?” 

“Buying our own presents,” answered 
one. 

“Was there any love in it? Were you 
doing anything for one another?” 

“No,” chorused the crowd. 

“What makes it so dark?” asked one. 

“Oh,” said the Fairy, “the star has almost 
gone out. That is the star of Love. It only 
shines for those who believe. We might call 
it Santa Claus’ searchlight, for it is the light 
of Love. It lights the pathway all over the 
world for Santa Claus’ messengers. As long 
as it shines, we know he still lives. If the 
world should stop believing, it would go 
out.” 


79 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

With a quick glance heavenward she 
cried in frightened tones: 

“Oh, please say you believe. If you do, 
press the spring in the wand.” 

At once in the darkness gleamed many 
stars, while the dolls chorused: 

“We do! We do!” 

As the star in the sky still refused to shine 
brighter, the Queen stepped forward to the 
edge of the stage. 

“Oh,” she cried in anguished tones, 
“won’t you, too, say you believe? The star 
can’t shine until you do, and the stockings 
won’t be filled. For those who do not be¬ 
lieve, the world will be dark indeed. Please 
say you do—and if you do, hold your wand 
on high and press the spring.” 

At once, many stars blinked here and there. 

The Fairy waited, gazing sadly at one 
dark space. There sat the “No Santa Claus 
Club.” 

As she waited the star seemed about to 
vanish. 


80 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

The Fairy could be seen only by the 
twinkling lights shed from the ends of the 
wands held on high. 

Suddenly she said sadly: “The star is 
going and with it goes Love. Can you think 



what the Christmas-tide would be without 
Love? There would be no doing for others, 
because we love to. The dear old poem, 
The Night before Christmas, would never be 
heard. There would be no glad cries of 
81 



THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

‘Merry Christmas.’ No stockings would be 
hanging. Does that sound like the kind of 
Christmas you would like?” 

As she stood sadly gazing at them, the 
silence was broken by the orchestra playing 
a sad little melody. 

This ceased and as she was about to turn 
away, the stars in the one dark spot gleamed 
so bright, the Fairy joyously clapped her 
hands. Those dolls huddled about her began 
to dance and sing. Even the audience joined 
in the merry tune. 

Then the cloud curtain dropped and the 
star in the East shone forth in all its beauty. 

The music from the orchestra thrilled 
everybody. 

As it ceased the Fairy pointed to the star. 

“See!” she cried, “it shines almost as 
bright as it did for the Shepherds.” Then 
she gaily waved her wand. 

Up the village street she went, the dolls 
dancing after her, singing all the way. 

Into one home after another, the dolls 

82 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


vanished till presently the Fairy and Belinda 
were left alone. 

“Come,” said the Fairy, “you must go 
home. The dolls will be waiting to hear the 
good news.” 

The curtain dropped and as it again 
rolled up, Belinda was seen with the Fairy, 
walking along the edge of the woods in the 
starlight. 

“Oh,” cried Belinda, “wasn’t it lovely 
when they all believed? Those stars shining 
everywhere looked just like dancing fireflies. 
I loved it, too, when more and more shone 
out in the darkness.” 

“What do you think happened after we 
came away?” asked the Fairy. “Do you 
want to know? It’s going to be a beautiful 
thing to see. That spark of Love has set that 
whole village afire. 

“Where Love is, Santa Claus comes in 
one way or another. See what is happen¬ 
ing.” 

Now they saw another beautiful picture. 
83 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


From each village home crept a tiny 
white figure. Suddenly they were no more 
white figures but red-coated, fur-trimmed 
figures, which seemed to be really truly Santa 
Clauses. 

On each back was a pack. They darted 
in and out of houses and a rollicking time 
they had filling many stockings. As the pic¬ 
ture vanished, the Fairy said: 

“Do you know why they were so happy? 
They are all giving away the gifts they 
bought for themselves, so they are having 
a really truly glad time. 

“Now here you are at home. I see the 
dolls in the window watching for you. 

“Go and tell them all about it.” 

After a loving good-by kiss, Belinda ran 
into the house. 

The door closed, the Fairy stood still for 
a moment, then slowly she rose, hovered 
about as though loath to go away. Then up, 
up she floated, till finally she vanished, while 
the star shone on. 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

The curtain dropped, the audience sat 
very still till the orchestra breathed forth an 
exquisite Christmas song. 

The sweet voices of the carolers joined in. 
After this the audience applauded till across 
the stage in front of the curtain, paraded the 
doll actresses. 

Then a speech was called for. This 
brought out the Queen. She thanked them 
for caring so much for the play, also for 
joining the Santa Claus Club. 

Then she said, “Are you willing to help 
make this Christmas a jolly one?” 

“We are, we are!” came from all parts 
of the house. 

“Good! To-morrow I will let you know 
what is to be done, and now good night.” 

Every one went home much excited, and, 
of course, the Queen, the Doll Lady and the 
dolls were especially so. 

“To think they liked the play so much,” 
said the Queen. 

“I jus’ Vas sure they would,” said Dinah, 
85 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“when I banged my ’tato-masher like I did. 
I did it a pu’pose and I made a big dent 
in it.” 

“Oh,” laughed the Doll Lady, “what’s a 
dent in a potato-masher, compared to mak¬ 
ing that Idea fly away from Cloverdale?” 

“Yes,” said the Queen, “I’d be willing to 
buy a dozen potato-mashers to have that 
happen. 

“Now get to bed; to-morrow the real fun 
will begin.” 

And so very soon the dollies were curled 
up in their beds, dreaming the play all over 
again. 



CHAPTER V 


Bright and early the next morning, the 
No Santas came trooping in for badges. 

The new girl’s face was glowing. 

“Oh,” she said, “I’m so glad you helped 
me to see. We weren’t a bit happy and now 
we are and we want to help with the Christ¬ 
mas.” 

“You are quite sure you believe with us?” 
asked the Queen, giving her a keen glance, 
as she brought forth her box of badges. 

“Oh, we do, we do,” they all chorused, 
while the new girl added: “We weren’t hav- 
87 







THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

ing any fun. We were doing just what they 
were in the play, buying for ourselves. The 
play showed us how it would end. We never 
thought of that part.” 

“Well,” said the Queen, pinning a shin¬ 
ing Santa on each little blouse, “I’m glad 
you see what it was to mean. Now there 
isn’t much time left. Christmas is trotting 
toward us, while Janie is on the big ship 
sailing our way. 

“I told you Santa Claus would be peep¬ 
ing over her shoulder, and so he will. 

“We want each person in this town to 
do something toward this Christmas. To 
make it perfect —every one must help.” 

“Some have no money. How can they?” 
asked one. 

“Oh, my dearies,” said the Queen, “do 
you think money alone brings joy? It helps 
a lot of course, but really isn’t the fun in 
doing things?” 

“I don’t believe I could do a thing if I 
had no money,” said the new girl. 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what 
we could do with no money, or even with a 
few pennies?” said the Doll Lady. 

“We’ll try it,” said the Queen. 

“Do you know that at the orphan asylum, 
they have one doll for all those children?” 

“Oh, dear, suz me,” said Dinah. “We 
ought to do something about that.” 

“Yes, we must, and now I want to show 
you what we can do with no money. Watch 
me make a doll without spending a cent.” 

She snatched a piece of white cloth from 
a table near by and made it perfectly square. 
Then she rolled it and twirled it and in a mo¬ 
ment it had turned into a cunning rag doll. 

With colored crayons she painted a face, 
then tied a thread to the top of the head and 
then that doll danced as well as any live doll. 

“Now set your brains to work. See if 
you can’t do as well. Make dolls like that 
and dress them in bright colors. 

“I’ll give each one of you ten pennies. 
See what you can do with them.” 

' 89 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Ten pennies,” said the new girl. “My! 
Ten dollars might do something, but not ten 
pennies.” 

“Well,” laughed the Queen, “to-morrow 
each one of you bring a doll and the one 
who spends the least, will win the prize. 
You can make them of all sorts of things, 
but it will be more fun if each one keeps 
her doll a secret.” 

From now on the children and dolls were 
busy indeed. 

At first they thought they never could 
make a doll for ten cents, but after a few 
hints from the Doll Lady, they found they 
could make one for even less. 

The next day they appeared, each carry¬ 
ing a parcel. 

“Well, well,” said the Queen, “you found 
you could do something. Place them in a row 
on the mantel where we can all see them.” 

They opened the parcels and when they 
saw the dolls in a procession, how they 
shouted! 


90 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


They were a funny lot, made of all sorts . 
of things—apples, carrots, parsnips, prunes, 
raisins, peanuts, hickory ppts, and even one 
egg doll. 

They wore dresses of all colors of tissue- 
paper and looked as though they were to 
have a ball at once. 

“See,” said the new girl, “mine only cost 
two cents. It’s made from a pipe. The 
bowl is the head. I painted a face on it and 
this bonnet just covers the hole.” 

“Lovely!” said the Queen, “and takes the 
prize, which is another ten cents! Her frilly 
skirts and broad sash are very stylish. I 
think it would be a good plan if you would 
make a lot of these dolls for the children in 
the orphan asylum.” 

“Oh,” cried the new girl, her eyes shin¬ 
ing, “I’ll make them each a pipe doll dressed 
in colored tissue-paper. I’ll make them all 
different, a clown, a ballet dancer, a Quaker, 
a nun. I can make all sorts of faces on the 
bowls.” 


91 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Well,” said the Queen, “you seem to be 
quite an artist. We have made a grand 
beginning. 

“Make as many dolls as you can. There 
will be plenty of places for them. Make 
other things, too, gifts for father, mother, 
sisters, brothers, friends, everybody. I’ll give 
you the money but spend as little as pos¬ 
sible. 

“The people in the village have an idea 
that this Christmas will cost a lot. We 
want to show that it will not only cost little, 
but for that reason, will be much more 
fun. 

“Can’t you each have a drawer in your 
dresser, or a large box just for presents? As 
fast as you make things, put them in, as you 
will love to see them fill up. The gifts will 
look so pretty, too, with so many soft bright 
colors together.” 

“What can we make for our mothers?” 
asked the new girl. 

“I always spent a lot on her gift. I just 

92 




THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

don’t see how I can make anything out of 
nothing for her.” 

“Oh,” laughed the Queen, “you thought 
you couldn’t make a doll with ten cents. See 
what you did with two. 

“Go through your mother’s scrap-bags, 
all of you; bits of silk and lace make lovely 
cushions or work-bags. 

“The Doll Lady will help you. With a 
small piece of white muslin you can make 
a wee night shirt for soiled kerchiefs. 

“Put a cunning pocket in it, feather¬ 
stitch the collar and cuffs and put pearl glove 
buttons down the front. You can make any 
number of beautiful things. 

“Run home and find what you can, but 
ask your mothers what you may have. 
Come back here and we’ll have a sewing 
party. 

“We will work here every day after 
school.” 

This sounded fascinating and it was. 
From now on, the playroom was a busy 


93 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


place. Live dolls and their mothers snipped 
at the bright colors with shiny scissors. 
Needles flashed in and out, but best of all, 
were the bright faces bending over the 
work. 

Dinah appeared often, sometimes with 



crisp cookies or gingerbread. Again she 
brought a dish of rosy apples or butternuts 
all cracked. 

One special day while they were all busily 
working, Rosabel said, “I wonder where our 
refreshments are? Dinah hasn’t been in 
at all.” 


94 






THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Dinah’s excited about something,” said 
Elsie Grace. 

“I went to get a drink and she was peep¬ 
ing in the oven. She shut it up so quick. 
She acted so queer, I said, ‘What’s the 
matter?’ 

“She said, ‘Don’ ask me nothin’ nohow,’ 
and ran in the pantry and shut the door.” 

“Yeth,” lisped Arabella, “an’ I thaw her 
dancin’ a hornpipe. Then she hugged her¬ 
self and bent way over laughing.” 

At this moment the door burst open and 
there, oh, there was Janie! 

“Hullo! I’m here. We took an earlier 
boat than we planned,” she cried, as her 
seventeen dolls gathered around her, each 
wanting the first kiss. 

“And you are here, too,” she said to the 
Queen. 

“I hardly dared hope you would be, but 
I longed to find my dolls alive. 

“And what are you doing?” she asked, 
as the excitement died down. 


95 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Then they told her all about it. They all 
talked at once, and all Janie could hear was 
a jumble of Santa Claus and no Santa 
Claus. 

The Queen finally explained and Janie 
heard all about the children’s theater, the 
play and the Christmas they were to have. 

“My! I’m glad to be home,” she said. 
“I wouldn’t want to miss such a Christmas. 
I must have a badge straight off. Aren’t they 
darling! 

“Dinah, isn’t supper ready, I’m starved 
for one of your good meals. 

“Can’t you all stay and celebrate?” she 
asked of the workers. “Dinah, can you 
scrape up enough food for so many?” 

“I’ll try,” said Dinah, rushing to the 
kitchen, looking ready to burst, now the 
secret was out. 

“They will all help,” said the Queen. 

“What fun!” said Janie. “We’ll eat by 
the fire.” 

This was good news indeed for they all 

96 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


loved that. Soon they were sniffing the good 
things Dinah was cooking. 

They all put on flowered aprons, such 
pretty ones with pockets and bibs; then they 
went to work. 

Janie’s cupboard was well supplied with 
dishes and silver for such parties and so they 
brought forth small dishes and large ones 
for dolls and dolls’ mothers. 

When Dinah finally came to say that 
supper was ready, the Queen told them to 
take their plates and form in a proces¬ 
sion. 

Then they marched to the kitchen. 

“We’ll pretend we’re in a cafeteria,” she 
said. 

This certainly was fun, and no cafeteria 
ever gave such a meal as did Dinah give to 
them. 

“How did you do it so quickly?” asked 
the Queen, as she saw the fried chicken, 
snowy mounds of mashed potatoes and 
golden brown biscuit. 


97 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Oh,” laughed Janie, “Dinah proved she 
could keep a secret. Mother wired a friend 
from New York. She telephoned Dinah 
yesterday.” 

“I almost thought I never could keep dat 
dar sekurt but I did,” said Dinah proudly, 
then in stern tones added, “Arabella, you 
watch what you doin’. You almost spilled 
dat gravy on ma nice clean flo’.” ' 

With plates piled high they all went back 
to the playroom. 

Seated in a circle before the fire they ate 
and talked and talked and ate. 

When the plates were empty, Dinah came 
with dishes of ice-cream and sponge cakes 
about the size of a quarter. 

“What a lovely surprise!” said Janie. 
“Dinah you are such a dear. Everything is 
so good. Now tell me when did the Queen 
bring you to life?” 

“Oh, Miss Janie,” cried Dinah, much 
excited, “ain’t you heerd ’bout dem hummin’ 
birds what waked us up one night when the 
98 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

clocks struck twelve? Do lemme tell it, 
please.” 

“I want you to; bring your ice-cream and 
sit here with us. I want to hear all 
about it.” 

Dinah, feeling very important now, came 
and sat down with them, and soon Janie 
knew it all. 

Great fun they had over this tale, each 
one adding a bit. 

When it was finished they all scurried 
around, helping here and there. 

When the work was done, the dolls and 
their mothers said good night and thus 
ended another good time in Janie’s play¬ 
room. 



CHAPTER VI 

One morning when Christmas was very 
near indeed, every one in Cloverdale had a 
surprise. 

When the many front doors were opened 
to take in the milk bottles, what do you think 
was found tied to the door-knobs? 

A balloon! 

Not a common round every-day balloon. 
Not that kind at all. 

Fluttering about in the wind trying its 
best to blow away was a balloon in the form 
of a Santa Claus. On his back was a pack. 


IOO 










THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

He was dressed in a red suit trimmed with 
fur, just as the jolly old elfs are always 
dressed. He even had the stump of a pipe 
in his mouth. His eyes twinkled and his 
dimples were so merry, it made one laugh 
just to look at him. 

“What does it mean?” cried each and 
every one. 

The children gazed fascinated and sud¬ 
denly one said, “Look! In his pack is a 
letter.” 

The letter was opened and every one 
stared, open mouthed. 

“Oh, mumsy,” cried the children, “it’s an 
invitation.” 

Yes, an invitation it was to a Christmas 
dinner! The invitation said every one must 
bring something. 

The village folk were so excited they 
could hardly eat breakfast. Soon they were 
all out in the street talking it over. 

“There comes the Doll Lady,” said one. 
“Let’s ask her about it.” 


xoi 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


And so the Doll Lady was stopped at 
one corner and another. 

The chief question was, “What shall we 
bring?” 

The Doll Lady had really come out for 
this very reason and was all ready with 
advice. 

Those who had no money were asked to 
bring Christmas greens to trim up the hall 
where the dinner was to be served. The 
near-by woods was full of pines. They 
needed workers more than money, she said. 

Those who had money were asked to 
bring food. Turkeys and chickens all 
roasted, cranberry sauce, potatoes, every¬ 
thing, anything to eat. 

At once from the many chimneys, came 
an extra lot of smoke and every house smelled 
so Christmasy, it made one hungry just to 
sniff as one passed by. 

One bright morning, the Doll Lady, 
coming in from a walk, said: 

“It’s going to be just lovely. Most every 


102 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

one is very busy helping. I’ve seen them all 
now.” 

“You don’t look very happy,” said the 
Queen. 

“Well, I hoped to be able to tell you 
every one is helping. Two just won’t.” 

“Who are they?” asked the Queen. 

“Mrs. Stout and Judge Hammond. The 
rich ones of the village. Judge Hammond 
just grumbled when I talked to him. Said 
he never could see any sense in Christmas 
anyhow. Mrs. Stout says she hasn’t kept 
Christmas in years. Little they know how 
much they have missed.” 

“There goes Mrs. Stout now,” said the 
Queen, “just let me speak to her.” 

She danced out to the street crying, 
“Good morning, Mrs. Stout. Won’t you 
come in? I want you to sample our candy. 
I believe you are a wonderful judge of 
sweets.” 

Mrs. Stout, much pleased at this speech, 
followed her into the house. 


103 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

She paused in the doorway, amazed at 
what she saw. 

“My!” she gasped. “Wherever did you 
get all these things?” 

“Haven’t you heard of our Christmas 
celebration?” asked the Queen. 

“Every one is sending things for it.” 

“What a foolish expense!” sighed the 
lady. 

“My, no! The cost in money is very 
little. It just took a lot of time, but they 
loved it. They all say they never had such 
fun getting ready for Christmas.” ’ 

“Are those all full?” asked Mrs. Stout, 
poking at a pile of interesting-looking 
boxes. 

“Yes, and these and these,” opening 
closets and drawers all piled high. 

“Why do they need so many?” 

“Well, there are quite a few people in 
this town and they all want to give to their 
many friends. 

“Here’s the candy. Do try it.” 


104 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

The dolls and their doll mothers gathered 
round the guest and watched while she 
smacked her lips over the candy in each 
pan. 

“Finer she said, “couldn’t be better.” 

Then she walked about staring and ex¬ 
claiming: 

“Did you say every one has given some¬ 
thing?” she presently asked. 

“Almost every one,” replied the Queen, 
her eyes twinkling up into those beady ones 
bent upon her. 

“What queer dolls! Where did you get 
them?” 

“Our children and their dolls made them. 
They are for the orphans.” 

Then growing confidential, she led her 
guest to a sofa saying: 

“Sit down for a moment while I tell you 
something. 

“Did you know that out there at that chil¬ 
dren’s home, they have only one doll? Some 
one sent it in and they take turns playing 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

with it. There are so many children, it 
takes a long time for it to make so many 
visits. Each child just looks forward to the 
one hour when the doll is to be all its 
own.” 



Mrs. Stout gazed at the queer dolls 
which lay in a row staring up at her. 

As she looked she murmured: “Rag dolls, 
peanut dolls, apple dolls, raisin dolls, pipe 
dolls! Well! Well! I guess they will have 
enough when they get these.” 

“But,” said the Doll Lady, “these aren’t 
very pretty. They are only for fun.” 

106 




THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Beggars shouldn’t be choosers,” declared 
Mrs. Stout. “They would break a nice doll, 
if they had one and they cost so much these 
days.” 

“Do they?” said the Queen, looking hard 
at her fur coat and diamond rings. 

Mrs. Stout suddenly rose from her seat 
and started for the door. 

“Well,” she said, “I must go.” 

“You’ll come to the dinner, won’t you?” 
asked the Queen. 

“I’ll see; thank you. Good-by.” 

She left the house and marched down the 
street, with a quicker step than usual. 

“She’s caught the fever,” cried the Queen, 
clapping her hands. 

“How do you know?” asked the Doll 
Lady. 

“Oh, I can tell. I saw a new look in 
her eyes. Won’t it be grand if she helps?” 

“Yes, with all her money, she could do 
a lot,” said the girl from the East. 

“Oh, my dear, it isn’t her money we want. 

107 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

We want her and Judge Hammond to want 
to help, so they will be happy with the rest 
of us.” 

“I think she will,” said Dinah from the 
window. “She gets skippier and skippier. 
Now she’s almost running.” 

And she was for she had an Idea. As 
she walked along, she was wondering what 
she could do without spending any money. 
When she started to hurry it was because she 
suddenly remembered a box on a top closet 
shelf. She rushed into her house, then to 
the closet. She hung up her coat and bon¬ 
net, took the box from the shelf and sat down 
on a couch with the box beside her. 

Here were old toys, dolls, games, books, 
all sorts of things left from her childhood 
days. 

She thought these could go to the 
orphans. However, as she looked them over 
she found the dolls were very shabby. 
Heads, legs and arms were loose or off. They 
were too bad to give away to any one. Sud- 
108 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

denly she gazed out the window, then she 
ordered her car. 

“Drive to the Orphans’ Home,” she said 
to the chauffeur, as he closed the door of the 
machine. 

As they drove along, she murmured to 
herself: 

“One doll for all those children. I can’t 
believe it.” 

The Home was some distance out of the 
village. Mrs. Stout had never been there 
and now that she was to make the visit, she 
was very curious about it. She rang the bell 
and the door was opened by the matron who 
seemed much surprised to see her. 

“Do you wish to see the Home?” she 
asked. 

“Yes,” said the visitor. “I have always 
thought I would like to see it.” 

She followed her hostess up-stairs and as 
they went from one room to another, she 
found the children here and there helping 
with the work. 


109 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


One little girl was dancing about in 
great glee. The glad light in her eyes made 
one sure something exciting was about to 
happen. On her hair was a shabby faded 
ribbon. Another was tied about her waist, 
while a long skirt trailed around her feet. 

“Oh,” she cried to the visitor, as she 
clapped her hands. “I’m so glad you came. 

“Won’t you sit down; I want you to see 
it. It’s going to be my turn just in a 
minute.” 

“What does she mean?” asked Mrs. 
Stout. 

“Surely you have heard of the wonderful 
gift,” said the matron. 

“A lovely doll was sent out to the chil¬ 
dren. It comes to visit each one for an 
hour. They take turns playing with it. It 
is her turn to have it and here it comes.” 

Another child now appeared. She car¬ 
ried a wonderful doll and tenderly placed it 
in the outstretched arms waiting to en¬ 
fold it. 


no 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Only one doll for so many?” grimly 
asked Mrs. Stout. 

“Well, it’s better than none,” said the 
matron. 

“They all love it so. She has great fun 
with her many mothers.” 

As they left the child, the matron said: 

“Don’t tell, but it is to be alive Christ¬ 
mas. The Queen of the Dolls said so. It’s 
to be a surprise. Must you go? Come 
again. Good-by.” And the puzzled matron 
closed the door. 

Mrs. Stout walked out to the car, talking 
to herself. 

“It is true. I couldn’t believe it. Think 
of anybody giving only one doll to so 
many.” 

In her own home she again went through 
the box. Suddenly her eyes brightened. The 
cover on a book brought back some childish 
memory. She opened it. Then she sat down 
and read it through. 

The maid passing by the door, heard an 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

unusual sound. A hearty laugh rang through 
the house. It was actually Mrs. Stout! 

The maid paused, hoping to hear it again. 
For a while it was very still, then suddenly 
she heard her say: 

“I’ll do it, every one is helping. Why 
shouldn’t I?” 

The bell tinkled, the maid opened the 
door. 

“Pack my satchel. I’m going to the city. 
Be back to-morrow evening. Have supper 
early.” 

The maid flew to the kitchen, wonder¬ 
ing what ever had happened to her mistress. 

The villagers also wondered when they 
heard that the wealthy lady of the village 
had taken the seven-ten train. 



CHAPTER VII 

“What do you think I saw?” cried Janie, 
much excited, as she ran into the play¬ 
room. 

“Mrs. Stout with a satchel going to the 
station! Do you s’pose some one is sick and 
she’s been sent for?” 

“No,” laughed the Queen. “Some one 
is well at last! She’s joined the Santa Claus 
Club!” 

“She has! How do you know?” asked 
all the dolls in one breath. 

“The matron of the Home telephoned she 

















THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

was out there. She arrived just in time to 
see Minnie Brown all rigged up in a dress 
trailing about her feet. She wore a sash 
and a hair ribbon. It was her turn for the 
doll. 

“Guess Mrs. Stout’s heart was touched. 
Maybe she’s gone to the city to buy one more 
doll. 

“Come, I see the trucks stopping in front. 
We must carry out the boxes. They will 
be taken to the Hall, then we will put them 
on the trees.” 

What fun it was! They all helped, rush¬ 
ing back and forth with arms full, till the 
trucks were piled high. Then they went 
speeding down the street. 

Stored away among the boxes were live 
dolls peeping out here and there, all in gales 
of laughter. When the truck stopped in 
front of the Hall, the dolls jumped down 
and ran in. They could hardly stand still 
for now the crowning moment was very 


near. 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

From the large audience room, the theater 
seats had been taken out. There they found 
tables everywhere filled with boxes and 
packages. 

How Christmasy they looked, all tied with 
red tissue-paper and silver cord! 

“Come up on to the stage,” called the 
Queen. 

They all ran up the steps through the 
little door back of the curtain. Here they 
found everything waiting for their part of 
this performance. 

“What are all dose tings on dose tables?” 
asked Dinah, her eyes rolling about in great 
curiosity. 

“Why, Dinah, don’t you know every one 
joined the Santa Claus Club, and every one 
is doing something for somebody? Those 
are the gifts brought in.” 

“Is we all goin’ to hang up we alls stock¬ 
ings at home like always?” 

“Certainly we are. This is just a get 
together of the whole village family. In their 
”5 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

own homes, they will hang their stock¬ 
ings as usual and they will all be filled, 
too. 

“Here come the trees. Lookl What 
beauties!” 

And they certainly were beautiful trees 
that now came walking in the door* 

“Why so many?” asked Janie. 

“We are going to make the stage look 
like a pine forest. There are so many gifts, 
one tree wouldn’t hold them all. Won’t they 
look pretty? Just like a fruit orchard, with 
trees loaded with red apples. Come, every 
one, and help make this enchanted place.” 

At once Janie and her seventeen dolls 
scampered about the stage. It had been en¬ 
larged, so there was much room to work 
out this idea. First they made a pine carpets 
On this they planted the trees. 

“Oh,” cried the Doll Lady, “let’s go 
down below and see it from there.” 

They hurried down and found it certainly 
was a beautiful picture. 

n6 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Looks just as though the trees were 
growing,” said Janie. 

“It does indeed,” said the Queen. “Now 
the Fairy will wave her wand and lo! .What 
will we see? 

“Come now, and make the fruit begin 
to blossom.” 

They hurried back and opened the many 
boxes. 

“Place the snow on the upper parts of 
the branches,” said the Doll Lady, and in a 
few moments the trees looked as though 
they had been out in a snow-storm. 

Then shining balls of all colors dangled 
here and there, appearing as if by magic; 
strands of silver bead were woven in and out, 
round and round to the very tip end of each 
tree. 

Next, all sorts of shining things were 
placed. Barley sugar animals swung as 
though begging to be eaten. 

Then came the joy of tying on the gifts. 

Oyer all, sparkling snow was sifted, till 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

the whole scene seemed crusted with a thick 
coating of frost. 

“Looks like dey’d been a driving bliz¬ 
zard, sweeping through dis dar hall,” said 
Dinah. 

“It certainly does,” said the Doll Lady, 
as she added the finishing touches. 

“Now we must go home and eat our hot 
biscuit and honey supper. We want to go 
to bed early. To-morrow will be a busy 
day.” 

And so the dolls hippity-hopped up the 
street after Janie, the Doll Lady and their 
dear Queen. 



The next morning as they were all at 
breakfast, the door-bell rang. Dinah came 
in, her teeth chattering, her eyes wide with 
horror. 

“It’s for the Queen! One of them tele¬ 
gram things,” she said, holding it out as 
though it were a hot coal. 

The Queen opened it and read. 

“Who do you think sent it?” she cried. 
“Mrs. Stout! And what do you think it 
says? Listen: ‘May I have one good sized 
corner of the Hall? Answer quick. Hotel 
Victory/ 




































THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Think of that! One corner! I’ll give 
her all four if she wants them. Hurrah for 
the new member.” 

“What do you s’pose she’s going to do?” 
chorused the dolls. 

“That’s the question,” mused the Queen. 
“Something grand, I imagine, and it must 
have been lively work. The wand tipped 
with gold pieces can perform wonders, 
specially when the heart of the one who 
waves that wand is filled with love. 

“I do wonder what she is going to do.” 

They all wondered still more when they 
arrived at the Hall. 

“Oh,” cried Dinah, clapping her hands, 
“see dat dar ’Nited State ’Spress wagon piled 
full.” 

“And there comes another and still 
another all piled full,” said Janie, fluttering 
around the curbstone. 

They all watched the unloading of mys¬ 
terious boxes large and small, long and 
short, fat and thin. 


120 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Then came Mrs. Stout herself. She 
looked so happy as she hurried out of her 
car, the Queen felt like cheering. She 
bustled up to them, her eyes shining, her 
whole face aglow. 

“Oh!” she cried, “I’m so delighted I 
could have the corner! A wonderful idea 
came to me after I left you, dear Queen. I 
could hardly wait to carry it out.” 

Then as she looked about at the inter¬ 
ested faces she added: 

“It must be a secret. Please let me keep 
it till Christmas Eve. I’ll have the corner 
curtained off while the work goes on behind 
it. You’ll all love it, and it is much better 
for you to be surprised and you will be I 
am sure.” 

“Of course we will. Surprises are great 
fun,” said the Doll Lady. 

“Come, we must all get busy and let Mrs. 
Stout go on with her magic.” 

As our little group worked, they cast 
many glances at the corner where the New 


121 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Member had disappeared behind the curtain. 
As it swung back and forth, the children 
longed to peep, but of course they wouldn’t. 

“Listen to the hammering,” said Janie. 
“It’s fun, just to hear it. I do wish I kne\y 
what’s happening back there.” 

“You will soon know, my dear,” said the 
Doll Lady. “Now we have finished up here, 
we shall set the tables.” 

Everybody helped. Some spread snowy 
cloths and placed silver and china. Others 
put up trimmings. Red bells hung every¬ 
where. Beautiful snowy pictures on Denni¬ 
son paper were draped over windows and 
doors. On some of these Santa Claus and his 
reindeer were seen flying about. 

The people in the village brought pine 
trees and cut branches. These covered the 
walls. Never in the history of the place had 
there been such a jollification. 

The day before Christmas was very ex¬ 
citing. People brought more gifts, baskets 
of food, baskets of everything. 


122 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Shouts of “Merry Christmas” were heard 
on all sides. The cheery smiling faces were 
a joy to see. 

The new girl beamed on every one. 

“Oh,” she cried to Janie, “isn’t it fun! 
Long ago I wrote all about it to my friends 
in the East. 

“They didn’t believe in Santa Claus 
either. I had a letter to-day. They are doing 
just what we are and are so glad I told 
them about it. Isn’t it a lovely world!” 

Janie put her arms about her saying: 

“Indeed it is! I’m happy too. Every 
one is. To-morrow you will see just what 
it means to all of us in this little village 
to keep Christmas in this way. 

“Won’t it be fun for us all to be eating 
dinner in that lovely room! I can hardly 
wait. 

“Let’s go see if we can help the Doll 
Lady. She’s in the kitchen with Dinah. 
You just ought to see the pantry shelves! 
They are packed full of dolls’ food. 

123 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Birds all ready to roast crispy brown. 
Then there are teeny potatoes, loaves of 
bread and rolls so small it makes you laugh, 
just to look at them. And the cakes! Layer 
cakes! Loaf cakes! Tea cakes, cookies all 
like pennies. Come, I’ll show them to you.” 

The two peeped at the goodies, then, with 
Janie’s dolls, sat around the fire, telling 
stories. 



CHAPTER IX 

It seemed as though the crowning mo¬ 
ment never would come, but it did. 

The villagers at last began to prepare to 
walk in the procession. This was to form 
late in the afternoon and march to the Hall. 

Feathery snowflakes floated lazily about 
in the air. The chimes of Christmas bells 
rang a merry tune, while choristers, chant¬ 
ing glad carols, marched up one street and 
down another. 

The village was a picture. The snow- 
covered houses were flooded with moonlight. 

125 






THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

The star in the East kept guard even as in 
the long ago when the Shepherds watched 
and wondered. It sent its loving beams into 
each window, dotted with the light of a 
candle. It gazed in surprise at one house 
where no candle shone. 

Judge Hammond was still not a member 
of the Club. 

The Doll Lady and the Queen going 
ahead of the procession saw this one dark 
house. 

They had been so happy as they tripped 
along. Every one else had joined with them 
and the whole village seemed bubbling over 
with love. 

“Oh,” cried the Doll Lady, “it makes me 
so sad to think of that lonely old man. 
Why wouldn’t he even light one candle?” 

“He will,” comforted the Queen. “Look 
up and down the street; can he see those jets 
of light gleaming everywhere and not join 
in the chorus? He will light candles and 
you wait! He’ll be at the dinner too! 

126 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

This kind of thing we are doing is catch¬ 
ing. 

“He may think he doesn’t want to. But 
really down deep in his heart, he does. 
There he comes now. Wait a moment.” 

The Queen danced across the street cry¬ 
ing, “Merry Christmas, Judge.” 

The Judge only muttered something as 
he pulled his fur cap well down over his ears, 
turned up his collar and slammed his door. 

“Be sure to come to the dinner,” she 
called as she fluttered by. 

She hurried back to the Doll Lady and 
for a moment was very still. 

At last she said, trying to be cheery: 

“He didn’t even answer. I guess he 
Just doesn’t know that wasn’t polite. Any¬ 
how I still think he will come.” 

The Judge shook himself like a great 
shaggy dog. He looked up and down the 
street. 

“Candles lighted,” he grouched. “What 
a waste!” 


12 7 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


He walked up one side of the street then 
crossed over. Everywhere candles blinked 
their bright eyes at him. Far down the street 
he heard shouts of “Merry Christmas,” then 
the music of the carolers came floating to¬ 
ward him. He stood in the shadow and lis¬ 
tened, not seeing the Queen and the Doll 
Lady standing in another near-by shadow. 

“Humph!” he grumbled. “Singing at 
every house!” 

Suddenly he noted the one dark spot. 

“The only one,” he murmured, uneasily. 
“They won’t sing there I s’pose.” Then he 
darted across the street and into his home. 

“Oh,” cried the Queen, dancing about. 
“I believe he’s going to. Look! He is. He’s 
a member! Hurrah!” she cried, as a lighted 
candle appeared in his parlor window. 

Not only in that room, but in one win¬ 
dow after another all over the house, lighted 
candles appeared as though by magic. 

“Isn’t it lovely!” cried the Queen, as he 
slammed his door and again crossed over. 

128 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“There!” he cried to himself. “Now 
we’ll see if you sing at my house.” 

The Queen and her companion stood very 
still. 

The music came nearer and nearer. At 
the newly lighted house the singers paused. 

“Sing!” shouted the leader, and then 
“Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem” rang 
out. 

Again the Judge listened. 

“Look,” whispered the Doll Lady, “he’s 
wiping his eyes. Our work is done. He 
will come to the dinner I’m sure and he 
will bring something too. Now we must 
go on. The procession is forming.” 

The Judge saw the villagers coming down 
the street. 

The music ceased. The singer carrying 
the tall wooden cross shouted: 

“Come—we’ll head the procession. 
Everybody is going! Hurrah for Clover- 
dale Village!” 

Once more the Judge entered his home. 


129 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


He stood in a window for a moment, watch¬ 
ing them hurrying by. 

“Every one is carrying a basket,” he 
said. 

“Fm the only one not helping, but what 
can I do at this late hour.” 

Then a thought flashed through his 
mind. Stepping swiftly across the room he 
cried: 

“I lit the candles. I, too, will go and not 
empty-handed.” 

He paused in front of a large safe. The 
lock clicked, the big door swung slowly 
open. 

He gazed at the many leather bags. 

“I’ll take a small one,” he whispered. 

Through the open door floated the hymn: 

“Oh, come all ye faithful, 

Joyful and triumphant.” 

He quickly caught up as many bags as 
he could carry. He closed the door and 

130 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


hurried out to the street just in time to join 
the end of the procession. The gold jingled 
as he walked and oddly enough there came 
to him the story of the Pied Piper. 



“They wouldn’t pay,” he said to himself, 
“but I will.” 

And he tramped along while the moon 
and the star lovingly enfolded him. 

“He’s here!” joyfully whispered the Doll 
Lady to the Queen, as the people crowded 
into the big room. 



THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“Oh,” said the Queen, “I’m so glad! Now 
we are all one loving happy family.” 

Then she sprang on to the stage, stood 
before the curtain and raised her hand. The 
sudden silence that followed, was broken by 
far-away music. Nearer and nearer it came, 
then, as the curtain rose, a joyful burst of 
song filled the place. 

As the Queen looked on the stage pic¬ 
ture, then on the happy village family, she 
hardly knew which picture was the more 
beautiful. 

On the stage the woodsy scene was per¬ 
fect. The frost-crusted ground and trees 
sparkled like a really truly woods at Christ¬ 
mas time. 

Bells hung everywhere. Silver bells 
which suddenly chimed out a sweet melody, 
a joyful accompaniment to the song. Over 
all brooded the star. 

Its steady light gleamed on the Christmas 
angel floating above the trees. 

It also shone on the glad upturned faces. 


132 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“It is perfect,” the Queen murmured 
to herself as the chorus now sang Silent 
Night. 

When the music ceased, the Queen came 
forward. 

Every one clapped and one shouted: 
“Hurrah for the Queen!” 

“Hurrah for Cloverdale Village!” shouted 
the Queen. “We never had such a Christ¬ 
mas. Why?” 

“Becauth everybody helped,” lisped Ara¬ 
bella. 

“That’s the secret,” said the Queen. 
“Everybody helped and loved it. Now please 
be seated at the tables. After dinner we will 
have our gifts. Then we have a surprise 
for you. I don’t know what it is myself, 
but I imagine it is perfectly fine for it takes 
up that whole corner.” 

Every one turned to look at the curtained- 
off corner and, of course, every one wondered 
what was hiding there. 

However, as plates piled high with a 


i33 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

wonderful dinner now appeared, it seemed 
wise to eat it at once. 

Each family had its own table and the 
dinner was such as many of them had never 
before eaten. 

Turkey, brown and crispy. Mounds of 
mashed potatoes, in the top of which lay a 
well of brown gravy. Rosy cranberry sauce, 
golden squash, turnips, pickles, jellies, jam, 
cakes, pies, everything was there. 

When the meal was finished, the live dolls 
hurried out of the room. In a moment wee 
Santa Claus figures were prancing about. 

“It’s the dolls dressed up,” said one and 
another. 

“Look at black Dinah,” cried Janie. 
“What a funny one she makes. 

“And Arabella 1 So little and cute as 
she is! 

“And Miranda! Dear! Dear! She is 
the best of all!” 

“What are they going to do?” asked the 
new girl. 


134 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Oh, they are going up on the stage! 
They are going to give out the gifts. What 
fun to have them do it!” 

It was indeed, for the Queen, also in 
Santa Claus costume, helped the Doll Lady 
hand out the gifts. Such a darling picture 
it was to see the tiny Santa Claus dolls dart¬ 
ing here and there and everywhere. With 
arms filled they looked like a flock of red 
birds. 

The children from the Home sat at one 
long table. They were showered with gifts, 
and the one that specially delighted their 
hearts was the beautiful doll that each one 
received and such a doll as it was! 

It had long curls, beautiful eyes that 
opened and closed, rosy cheeks, and besides 
all this, what do you s’pose it could do? 

Somewhere under its fluffy skirts, were 
strings. When these were pulled, the doll 
said “Papa! Mama!” What do you think 
of that? 

Then the clothes! They were in all 


135 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


colors of the rainbow. Shining silks and 
satins, hats, bonnets, shoes and stockings and 
even kid-gloves! And that isn’t all. 

With each doll was a wee trunk which 
held all sorts of things. A raincoat, night¬ 
dresses, underwear and even an umbrella! 

What a kind somebody to do this and 
who do you think it was? 

Mrs. Stout will never tell and I won’t, 
so I think it will have to stay a secret! 

“Oh,” cried one little girl as she clasped 
her beauty close to her heart. “Now we 
each have our very own child! The old one 
can still take turns visiting this doll until 
some day a new little girl comes. Then she 
may have her.” 

While I have been telling you all of 
this, the gifts have vanished from the 
trees and every one has been well remem¬ 
bered. 

Even Judge Hammond proudly showed 
a doll penwiper and a box of candy! 

He was much surprised to receive any- 
136 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

thing, and as he looked at them he suddenly 
had an Idea. 

A lovely Idea! He motioned to the Santa 
Claus Queen to come to him. Then he 
whispered something in her ear. 

She blew her bugle. At once the Santa 
Claus dolls were grouped about her. 

“Will every one please be seated,” she 
said. “We want to play ‘Button, button, 
who’s got the button.’ The one who gets 
it, wins the prize given by the Judge.” 

Now the Santa Claus dolls stooped and 
fumbled around the old man’s feet. 

Then was heard all over the room the 
words “Hold fast all I give you,” while tiny 
hands made magic passes over the closely 
clasped hands held out to them. Over and 
over the words were said, till each one had 
had a visit from the Button. 

With twinkling eyes, the Queen then 
cried: 

“Button! Button! Who’s got the But¬ 
ton?” 


i37 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

At once all over the room was heard: 
“I! I! II” 

“Who gets the prize?” asked one little 
fellow, “if everybody got one?” 

“Everybody won a prize. The Button is 
the prize. See! A beautiful gold piece! 
The Judge has certainly given us a wonder¬ 
ful present. 

“Now I shall give him one,” and the 
Queen pinned on to his coat a Santa Claus 
badge. 

“Hurrah for the new member,” she cried. 
“Everybody—Hip! Hip! Hurrah!” 

The Judge blushed at the applause that 
followed. 

This was interrupted by a jingle of 
bells. 

Then the curtain in Mrs. Stout’s corner 
was drawn aside and there—well—I just 
wish you all could have been there! 

What they saw was a lovely picture. 

A quaint little house stood in a yard. 
Trees were growing all about it and these 
138 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

trees were full of rosy fruit which seemed to 
be crusted with crystallized sugar. 

The Queen now came out on the stage 
saying: 

“Mrs. Stout has a great treat for us. A 
very unusual one. She has had a movie! 
made of a story she used to love when she 
was a little girl. What the movie has to do 
with the house you see, will be explained. 
It is very short and you will love it.” 

“A movie!” was heard on all sides, as 
the audience settled down waiting, so thrilled 
they could hardly sit still. 

Presently they saw on the screen a pic¬ 
ture of the same little house that stood in the 
corner. 

There lived a tiny old lady named Nancy 
Mehitable Moore. She loved children and 
longed to have them come to see her, but she 
lived so far from the village she seldom saw 
them. 

One day she said to herself: 

“I’ll have a party! I’ll invite them all!” 


139 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Much excited over this idea she sent out 
invitations. 

The postman was seen here and there 
dropping them in the mail boxes. 

The next question she asked herself was: 

“What shall I give them to eat?” 

Then she decided that children should 
have good plain food. Bread and butter and 
mugs of milk would be just the thing. Then 
she was seen baking bread and milking her 
cow. 

The children came. They played games 
till time for refreshments. With visions of 
frosted cakes and ice-cream, the food that 
was passed made them very sad indeed. One 
taste was enough! 

But wait. Did I tell you Nancy’s house 
was made of candy? Everything about it 
was delicious. One of the boys found it 
out and what a hubbub arose! 

“Just taste this chocolate chair! And 
this gumdrop stool! The legs of this table 
are peppermint sticks.” 


140 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

These words were heard on all sides. 
They ate the furniture, the walls, the doors, 
the whole house! Then they ran home as 
fast as they could go. 

Poor Nancy! She sat on a stump weep¬ 
ing. 

“To whom shall I go?” she wailed, while 
an owl in the tree echoed: 

“To woo! To woo!” 

Suddenly Nancy rubbed her eyes. What 
was that teetering on a branch beside her? 
It looked like a fairy. It was! And such 
a dear fairy! It swung to and fro for a 
moment, then jumped down and stood before 
Nancy. 

With a sweeping bow, it politely said, 
“Nancy, I’m sorry but you should have 
known it would happen. What child would 
eat bread and milk when a candy house is 
waiting to be gobbled up?” 

Then she waved a wand. Nancy saw 
swarms of fairies swinging on the branches 
of the trees. 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“See!” said the fairy, “we will build you 
another house. Have another party and give 
the children real party food. Then Em sure 
they will not eat your house.” 

The fairies now became very busy. A 
fire was built under a kettle. Soon the sugar 



was boiling and the house was started. Such 
fun as it was to watch them build it! It 
looked like a loghouse. The logs were made 
of chocolate bars plastered with cream white 
candy. The roof was slabs of maple while 
a row of chocolate drops dotted the edge. 

142 







THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

The chimney was made of cinnamon drops. 
The porch pillars were twisted sticks of 
peppermint. 

The furniture was then made. 

The parlor was a dream; a couch, chairs, 
table, all made of pink creams. Even the 
rugs were tiny slabs of pink candy. 

In the dining room appeared yellow bon 
bon chairs and table. 

And the kitchen! As if by magic, they 
saw placed here and there kitchen furniture 
all of mixed candy. 

In the bedroom, they saw a pure white 
candy bed, dresser and chairs. 

When the house was finished, the fairies 
vanished. 

Nancy once more sent out invitations for 
a party. 

This time the guests were served with 
strawberry tarts that glistened with crusted 
sugar. Frosted cakes beaded with tiny can¬ 
dies and huge dishes of ice-cream. 

They never thought of eating the house, 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

and the movie closed with the children tell¬ 
ing Nancy how sorry they were that they 
had been so rude at the other party, and 
begging her to let them come again. With 
a good-by kiss, away they went. 

The picture ended. The lights came on. 

The Queen then appeared and said: 

“Another Nancy is having a party. You 
are all invited. She wants you to eat her 
house. She had it made on purpose for 
you to eat. There it is.” 

That certainly sounded too good to be 
true. 

The children swarmed about the little 
house like bees about a jar of honey. It 
seemed too bad to eat such a beautiful thing 
but since she wanted them to, well—they 
would. 

First the tips of many tongues touched 
it. Then teeth nibbled, then they went at it 
in earnest. 

They danced back and forth to their 
parents and friends crying: 


144 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Just taste this chair.” 

“This sofa melts in your mouth, and oh, 
try this table and these stools!” 

“They are creamy bon bons.” 

Dinah discovered that the pump in the 
kitchen really pumped. 

“Oh!” she cried, “look what’s pouring 
out. Lemonade!” 

She filled the candy cups and passed 
them. 

As they ate the pantry shelves, they found 
many ice-cream freezers. 

“Look inside,” cried Janie. 

“Strawberry ice-cream.” 

The spice cupboard was great fun too. 
The cans made of candy were filled with 
chocolate nutmegs, cinnamon sticks and 
other candy spices. 

In the rice jar were caraway candies. 

The cake box, cookie jar and bread box, 
were all filled with candy cake, candy 
cookies and candy loaves of bread. 

In the ice-box were candy eggs, golden 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

rolls of candy butter and even candy milk 
bottles filled with a cream candy fluid. 

“Oh!” cried one as the house was about 
all eaten. 

“Come out in the yard. These trees are 
made of spun sugar. The fruit is all 
candied, too pretty to eat, but we’ll eat it 
just the same.” 

They did and found it delicious. Every 
one had a nibble. 

The Judge and Mrs. Stout laughed 
heartily when presented with a candy broom 
and scrubbing brush. With these were tiny 
cakes of candy soap. Wee pails came too, 
that melted in their mouths as any candy 
would. 

And now it was all over and time to go 
home. 

The Queen mounted the stage and made 
a beautiful speech. 

Then after thanking them all for help¬ 
ing to make the Santa Claus Club a success, 
she said: 


146 


THE SECRET OF, THE LIVE DOLLS 

“Go home, my dears, and hang up your 
stockings. If any one ever asks you if Santa 
Claus is, say that he is, as sure as the Star of 
Love is, for he was born at the same time. 
He will live for you as long as the Star 
shines for you; which I hope will be for 
ever. So let us cry: ‘Long live Santa Claus 
and his messengers.’ ” 

This cry was echoed through the room 
and above every voice was heard that of the 
Judge. 

Now through the streets the happy vil¬ 
lagers wended their way homeward. 

The live dolls, Janie and the Queen 
danced gaily into the playroom to talk it 
all over while they hung up their stockings. 

“My!” cried Dinah as she brushed the 
hearth and tidied up the room, “I’m glad dat 
old Idee went out of dis village. It got 
skippier and skippier till it jes natu’ally 
flewed away to nowhere. Didn’t I tell you 
all it couldn’t stay heah nohow?” 

“Yes, Dinah, you did,” said the Queen. 

H7 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 


“At first it just seemed to be here to stay. 
I certainly am glad too that it has gone. 
“Didn’t we have a lovely time! 

“The big Hall seemed almost like a 
mother hen brooding her many chickens. It 
took some time to get them all to want to 



come under her wings. It was just beauti¬ 
ful when they all stopped bristling their 
feathers and decided to settle down and be 
one happy family. 

“Now the stockings are hung and we 
must go to bed. 

“Good night, dearie hearts. Good night.” 

I48 





THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

Presently the many little heads lay on 
the many wee pillows. Drowsy eyes were 
closed and dreamland was almost in sight. 

Suddenly the clock clicked as the door 
popped open and there in the glow of the 
fire, stood the trumpeter. 

His gay red coat and cockade hat looked 
very Christmasy as he nodded his head. 
Three silvery peals announced the fact that 
in fifteen minutes the clock choir would 
close the day with a Christmas anthem. 

The silence that followed was broken by 
a shriek from Dinah. At once every head 
popped up from every pillow to see Dinah 
standing in the glow of the firelight. 

“Oh,” cried Rosabel, “what is the mat¬ 
ter?” 

Dinah was all a-quiver. Her hair stood 
up straighter than ever, while her eyes rolled 
round and round. 

“Oh, Missy Queen,” she wailed, “when 
we corned alive it was midnight. Now the 
clock struck a quarter of. You all ain’t goin’ 


149 


THE SECRET OF THE LIVE DOLLS 

to leave us and let us wake up daid like we 
does every time you goes away, is you? Us 
dolls wants to see what’s in us dolls’ stock¬ 
ings, us dolls does.” 

Shouts of laughter followed this outburst, 
then the Queen said: 

“Why, Dinah, I thought you knew me 
better than that. You won’t wake up daid. 
You’ll wake up more alive than ever. Now 
go back to bed. 

“Good night, my dears. Good night.” 

The silence that now filled the house was 
only broken when the joyous song of the 
clocks swept the children farther on into the 
land of dreams. 

Then the stars peeped into every window, 
shedding a loving halo about each little head, 
while from over the hills and far away echoed 
the glad cry: 

“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good 
night.” 


THE END 














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